The Legend of Preevos
by Balonius
Summary: The Doctor and Clara land on Preevos, a planet of peace. Everything changes when a corrupt government rises after the president is assassinated. Clara is framed for the assassination and becomes a key role in a prophecy to stop the corrupt government. Clara&Doctor!Whump, Contains violent scenes. Multi-chapter story. WIP - won't be posting for a while.
1. Prologue

Clara was running through a dark forest. Something was chasing her. She ran and ran until she reached the top of a snowy hill. She turned around as the bullet whistled past her ear.

"You're not going anywhere." A low voice of the chaser said in a gravelly voice. He slowly held up the gun.

The gun fired, and Clara fell down on the snow, bleeding out. She could feel the blood rushing out of her bullet wound on her stomach.

Suddenly, the settings surrounding her changed. She was now tied on a table.

"Where am I?!" She screamed as she tried to fight against the restraints.

"The Traveller must be killed." A man in a surgical mask said. The others inside the room chanted with him. He picked up a scalpel and moved towards her. The sharp tip of the scalpel came closer and closer to her face. Clara screamed. She closed her eyes in fear.

Then, she was falling. Falling from the sky. She was burning up like a meteorite falling from the sky.

"I need to save everyone. It is my duty." She heard her saying it over and over to herself as she was falling. She felt the pain as she landed on the rocky ground. Her bones crushed against the sharp, rocky floor. Then, she was in a grey cell.

"Clara, help me." It was the Doctor. It was the Doctor, except he was covered in blood and deep cuts. "Clara!" He screamed. "Doctor!" She screamed.

"Clara!"

Clara was ripped out of sleep. She was drenched in sweat. Her heart was beating so fast that it felt like it was going to explode. "Clara, it's a dream. You've just had a nightmare." Clara noticed the Doctor's cool hands gently placed on her shoulders as a reassurance.

Clara was so glad to hear the Doctor's soothing voice once again. "So I was." She said as she breathed out, trying to calm herself down. "It was just a nightmare." She assured herself. She looked around, puzzled. This wasn't Clara's bedroom at all.

"Doctor, why are we in the infirmary? Or, more importantly, why am I on the infirmary bed? I'm not sick, am I?" She questioned.

The Doctor silently stood on the side of the room gently tapping on a blood scanner.

"Clara." He finally spoke. He turned around. His wrinkles were even wrinklier with his frown and his eyebrows angrily sat on top of his blue eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry… for what?" She laughed nervously. The Doctor didn't return the laughter.

"A long time ago, I swore to you that I will never tell you of the forgotten year. But it seems like I have to break the promise, to save you." He delicately held a metal helmet in both hands.

"What year? Save me from what?" Clara said in disbelief. "What is that?" She pointed at the metal helmet.

"The forgotten year. The year we spent at Preevos. It was too much. For both me and you. You decided to forget and you made me promise that I would never remind you of this hurtful year. But I have no choice this time. I am so sorry." He avoided looking at Clara's eyes.

"You contracted a disease a while back, but I didn't realise until recently. At first I thought it was just clumsiness, you falling over and things. When you forgot stuff, I thought you just misplaced things, not anything serious. When you said you had nightmares, I should have listened. I thought it was just a one-off thing. I'm sorry, I should have been more careful with the signs. I realised when you momentarily collapsed in Space San Francisco. You couldn't remember what the TARDIS was. When I did a full scan on you, I figured out that you had contracted synthetically-made Psyon disease. The disease was once destroyed, but brought back to life by the scientists of Preevos. It targets your mind, slowly feeds off it until there's nothing left. It gradually takes over your physical body and gives you memory loss during the process. I can destroy the parasite if I can find the primary infected area. Luckily, I know where that is. Unluckily, it's inside the boundaries of your mind block you had set during the year of Preevos."

"So, I am dying." Clara looked at him with fright.

"Yes, but I can save you if I give you this treatment." He answered, giving her a sad smile.

"What will the helmet do?" Clara asked him, pointing to the grey helmet he was holding.

"This is a Spari mind helmet. It re-awakens your memories you've lost or hidden. Once you put it on, it will let out a small electric charge on the walls that contain the memory block. Once you are flooded with the unblocked information, I'll be able to find the exact place of the source and kill it before it spreads further. Now, before I put this on, I need your permission. Do you trust me to help you and am I forgiven for breaking the promise?"

"I trust you with all my life. Whatever I had said in the past, you are forgiven for breaking my promises. After all, you're doing it to save my life." She smiled.

He gently placed the metal helmet on her head.

The Doctor flicked a switch and the helmet whirred into life. The red and green flashy lights blinked like Christmas lights. He gently held Clara's hands.

"I'm here if you need me." The Doctor gazed into Clara's eyes with a sorrowful look. Clara saw the despair in his eyes. She smiled, trying to reassure him that it was okay.

He walked to the small machine that was connected to the helmet.

"I'm sorry, this is going to hurt a lot." The Doctor said.

"Ready?" The Doctor asked. Clara hesitantly nodded.

He pulled the lever.

There was a buzz, a zap and then the helmet turned off.

"Is that all? That didn't hurt a lot." Clara said, laughing. "That was so anticlimactic." She looked at the Doctor, who was frozen with worry.

"Five… Four… Three… Two… One…" He counted down, looking at the infirmary clock. Clara panicked.

"Zero." A wave of head-splitting dizziness hit her. Her vision blurred and she was pulled into the darkness.


	2. Chapter 1: In the Beginning

**Hey everyone, thank you sooo much for reading/considering my story :D **

**The first few chapters will be quite boring but it is necessary as it sets out the scenes/characters/hints for the overarching story plot. But I promise it gets interesting! It might be very confusing at first, as not a lot is revealed and set in stone... but hopefully you'll be able to find out as the story is revealed to you ;)**

**Once again, thank you for considering my story, you're awesome! Feel free to leave reviews and such... if you feel like it. They always make my day. But I won't pressure you to. The main thing is that you enjoy my stories more than anything else :P**

**Right, enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>The day they arrived at Preevos<strong>

"Are you done yet?" A monotonous voice came from upstairs.

"Two more, Doctor. Just two more essays to go. Blimey, you have the patience of a five year old." She paused. "Actually, you're worse than Courtney, and that's saying something." Clara replied as she flicked to the next page of her student's work. Another groan came from upstairs. "Yup. Definitely worse than Courtney." She chuckled.

"Clara, I told you. You can't keep using the TARDIS like this. Missed birthdays, restaurant bookings, uncooked turkey AND delayed marking! This is not why I got a desk in the TARDIS console room."

"Oh it absolutely is. Thanks for that, by the way. Besides, it's only a few hours before going on an adventure. Ooh. My back feels so much better sitting on that chair. Anyway, all done. Where are we going today?"

The Doctor grumbled as he moved to the console.

"Where do you want to go, miss?" The Doctor especially accented the last word to sound sarcastic.

Clara looked at him with playful eyes. "I'm quite peckish. Can we go to a new planet? Have a picnic there? Scones and tea?" She raised an eyebrow and clicked a button on the TARDIS.

"Scones and tea it is." The Doctor nodded as he pulled the lever. The TARDIS landed with a soft thud. "Shall we?" The door magically opened as they approached it to reveal a small village covered in snow decorated in Christmas lights. She looked up to see two moons, one soft red and one pale blue shining in the deep purple sky. The TARDIS produced a backpack filled with picnic food and thermos of tea. The Doctor put the backpack on, silently thanked the TARDIS and gently closed the door.

He turned to Clara and chuckled to see her wide, inflated eyes. He was definitely impressing her for sure.

"This planet is called Preevos. Very similar to earth, except a little bit bigger. Also has two moons and two suns. The Preeonians hold an annual festival of peace, where they see the alignment of the two moons. Coincidentally, 1000 years ago on this day, they stopped a seven hundred year civil war between Preeonians, the natives of this planet and humans, the settlers on this planet. Preeonians have big purple eyes and slightly psychic but that's where the differences end. They are virtually the same as humans. Anyway, they nearly destroyed their planet during this war but the legend has it that the war ended with the help of a lost traveller." He pointed at a golden statue of a woman. The statue stood there gazing up into the skies, holding a cane with a round milky orb. "If you haven't realised, she's the one I am talking about; the goddess of Preevos, the protector of peace. The stories say that she would travel to civilisations at war and give them peace and harmony. But as you know, it's just a story. A story to keep people happy. They're just all idiots. I mean, who would bother travelling from world to world to stop wars? Only an idiot would."

Clara looked at the Doctor with a mocking smile. 'Yes, only an idiot would. A good idiot.' She whispered.

Clara stood there momentarily gazing at the statue. The orb was mystifying. It was as if it was looking at Clara. The milky orb suddenly started pulsing with golden glow. Clara looked around to see if anyone noticed. When she saw that no one had noticed, she tapped the Doctor's shoulder.

"Doctor, is the orb supposed to be doing that?"

"Doing what?" He looked at the orb. When she looked for the second time, the orb was back to normal, as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, never mind." Clara shook her head. 'I must be going delirious from all that marking.' she thought.

"Now, we have two hours before we can see the alignment of the twin moons. Do you want to have a wander around the market place? They sell pretty neat things from all around the galaxy. Go mingle with the locals. They like travellers like you, and they like listening to stories from other worlds. Oh, and they use a credit system, where they pay with these card-like things." He held up a white rectangular piece made of some sort of plastic and soniced it. "And I just gave you infinite credits. Haha, nothing better than some vandalism. Meet me back in front of the TARDIS in an hour." The Doctor waved goodbye. Stopped midway, he waddled back to Clara. "Oh, can you buy me a new yo-yo? My last one got drenched in amniotic fluid, as you might remember."

Clara laughed. "Fine. See you in an hour!"

Clara entered the market place. The place reminded her a little bit of Ahkaten, her first proper adventure with the Doctor. However, this place was much colder and more crowded. It seemed like everyone was busily preparing for the festival ahead. As she walked along the colourful stalls, checking out the paintings, gadgets and food, she eventually realised how cold this planet was. She was only wearing a thin white woolen jumper, which was not really helping her keep warm. With luck, she found a stall selling clothing for various species, including humanoid forms (thankfully). Clara eyed on the fluffy lilac cape hung on a mannequin. Looking around the marketplace, she realised that many of the local people were walking around in capes just like the one she was looking at. As soon as she bought one, she put it on and was satisfied with the hugging warmth it provided. She continued shopping, finding a yo-yo for the Doctor, a cool pen she'll save later for marking and a pretty bookmark for Danny. After some shopping, she sat down on a vacant bench and rested her feet. She accidentally knocked over her bag and dropped the yo-yo which rolled across and stopped by a stranger's foot. Clara reached down to pick it up but the stranger stopped her and picked it up for her. When their eyes met, Clara was surprised at his handsomeness. He was a young man, about her age, with a brilliant smile and eyes clear and sparkling in purple. His light brown hair was neatly combed and was dressed in a fancy suit. His posture was very gentleman-like. Clara paused admiring his looks. She suddenly remembered she was just staring at him without saying anything.

"… Tt... hanks…" Clara kicked herself mentally for sounding so stupid.

"No worries!" There was his brilliant smile again.

'No snap out of it. You have Danny back home remember?' Clara scolded herself. However, this resistance melted away like snowflakes when their eyes met for the second time.

"You're wearing the cape, but I see you're not from around here?" He asked, suddenly he jolted. "Oh pardon me, the name is Theodore, but call me Theo for short." He chuckled as he extended his hand. Clara shook his soft hand. "Nice to meet you Theo, my name is Clara. And no, you're right, I'm not from around here. I'm just a traveller, travelling around the stars… you know…" Clara replied with a smile fixed onto her mouth. Theo's expression changed to pure delight.

"So you're a space traveller! Wow! My mother used to be one too! Well, before she moved to Preevos. She used to tell me all about her journeys through space. If you don't mind me asking, what planet you are from?"

"You think space travelling is cool, wait till you see time travelling! I'm from Earth by the way, from the 21st century." Clara blurted out and mentally kicked herself once again. Her mouth really did have a mind of its own. Theo's expression now changed from delight to ecstatic.

"You're a time traveller from the past? I thought time travelling only existed in fairy tales! Can you tell about ancient Earth? I'm so sorry for being so excited, it's just that I've never travelled inter-galaxies nor meet a time traveller in my life." Clara tried to think of a simple story to tell him but paused and smiled. She took out a British pound from her pocket.

"Tell you what, instead of a story, keep this. It's a British pound from 2015. This is what we use as currency instead of credits. When you start travelling, which I hope it is very very soon, just think of that coin as page one." Theo bowed gratefully to thank her for the gift. He took out a pocket watch.

"Oh, I must excuse myself. I promised to meet my mother before the festival begins. She's doing a big speech on the stage. I hope I see you in the near future." He bowed again, softly kissing her hand. Before he turned around, he paused and unclipped a pocket watch from his waistcoat.

"Here, this is a thank you in return for your gift. It is said that this clock will always help you find safety." He gently placed the watch on her palm, smiled politely and walked away before Clara could protest. When Clara inspected the watch, she was amazed by the beauty of it. Outside was engraved in silver and golden metal. When she opened the watch, she gasped at the interior design. It was as if it were bigger on the inside. Inside the watch was a softly glowing white gem in the middle surrounded by spherical gems of different sizes twirling around. On the other side, there was a digital clock that stated the time, date, year, the weather and other navigational measurements. She gently closed it with care. A voice in her head told her to wear it as a necklace. She bought a matching golden chain from a nearby stall, threaded the watch and wore it. Strangely, the pocket watch, which was almost the size of her palm, shrunk into the size of a small pendant. When she looked up, she saw Theo smiling again. "The pocket watch suits you." He said. He then continued. "Sorry to bother you again. My friends and I were wondering if you wanted to join us in the sky lounge? It's a very good view and they were all very keen on meeting you."

"…me? Why?"

"Because you're the traveller. You said you travel in time and space. I promise you won't be disappointed."

Clara raised an eyebrow and thought it through.

"Okay, sure, why not." Clara smiled and continued. "Just a moment though, I need to call... my friend. Let him know."

"Of course. Go ahead. I'll wait here."

Clara moved away and called the Doctor. He unfortunately didn't pick up, which was expected. "You've reached the TARDIS. If you have this number, you probably know that I'm away or something. Leave a message after the beep or whatever." A beep sounded. "Hey Doctor, I met this guy called Theo and he invited me to a sky lounge thing. I know I promised you to meet you there before but I'll meet you back at the TARDIS after the event, okay? See you then!" Clara and Theo walked to the sky lounge. As he promised, the seat had a very good view, and was reserved for what seemed like the VIPs for the event. He offered a glass of champagne to Clara.

Theo led Clara to a group of people.

"Everyone, this is the traveller I was talking about, Clara." Their face lit up.

"Nice to meet you Clara. It's an honour." They said extending their hands for a handshake.

Clara awkwardly shook their hands. 'Why were they honoured to see a traveller? Especially me?'

"Please, enjoy the food." An old woman said, giving her a warm, kind smile.

Meanwhile, when the Doctor split up with Clara, he went straight to the town square, where they were busy with the festival preparations. The Doctor watched the children twirl around the maypole. He suddenly had a flash back to his childhood in Gallifrey, where the children of Gallifrey joyously ran around the pole. He looked away, reminding himself of the sad truth again. Gallifrey was lost, forever. The real reason why he had brought Clara to Preevos was because it was a place he went to whenever he missed his home planet. Preevos was used to be called Cold Gallifrey, because it had twin suns and twin moons, as well as the fields of red grass and silver leaves. The only difference was that Preevos' environment was almost always covered in snow, the snow that never melted except on one day, the twin moons alignment day. During the alignment festival, he planned to show Clara the beauty of Preevos. 'Imagine what her face would look like! Her eyes will probably inflate like a fish again.' He chuckled. His daydreaming was interrupted by a child crying. Instinctively, the Doctor ran up to him to check if he was okay.

"Mr Teddy! My Teddy is dead. Where's my mummy? Mummy!" The boy cried holding a worn out teddy bear completely ripped in half. The eye was held in place by a loose string, fur matted and it was almost black with grime.

"Here, let me have a look at your Mr Teddy. I'm the Doctor. A teddy bear Doctor." He showed the psychic paper to the child. The child surrendered the teddy bear with suspicion. He gently took the teddy bear and soniced the two parts together. He also made the teddy bear look like it wasn't from a rubbish bin, cleaning the grime and unknotting the fur. When it was ready to hand it back to the boy, it looked good as new. The boy gasped at the teddy bear. "Mr TEDDY!" He stopped crying and snatched it away from the Doctor.

"Now, Oliver, what do you say to the man?" A woman's voice came from behind him. He turned around to see a middle aged woman. She had curly blonde hair and hazel eyes. Oliver turned around with a sigh and looked at the Doctor. "Thank you for fixing my Mr Teddy."

"You're welcome Oliver, hope he lives to a ripe old age." He ruffled Oliver's hair. He suddenly had a flashback to the days in Trenzalore, where he had lived to a ripe old age fixing children's toys, houses and saving the town time and time again from the invaders.

"Hellooo?" He realised a hand being waved in front of his face.

"Oh sorry, come again?" The Doctor realised the woman was asking him a question.

"I said, thank you for fixing my son's teddy bear. I was going to throw it away someday but I could never get it off of him." She smiled. "My name is Mary by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor." He looked around the town square. The stage was now erected in the middle and everyone was helping to set the stage. "Now Mary, can you tell me what's happening today?"

"You mean you don't know?"

"I'm just a traveller, we arrived here today."

"We?" She clearly looked impressed at the mention of 'traveller'.

"Clara and I. She's in the marketplace shopping for my Yo-yo and other useless junk probably for PE. Anyway, I can see that it's the festival for the alignment of two moons, but why the fuss? I thought it was just a small local event?"

Mary shook her head. "Not this year. This year is the thousand year anniversary of the civil war. This was apparently the place where they stopped the war so the president of Preevos is coming to town to give a speech." Mary looked at the watch. "30 minutes left." She squeed in delight. "Well, you must excuse me, I need to go and find my husband. He'll be receiving an award on stage tonight so I need to recheck his attire. Come on Oliver, let's go see daddy." Mary smiled and waved goodbye. The Doctor waved back.

The Doctor suddenly realised that he was supposed to meet Clara back in the TARDIS 30 mins ago. When he got there, he didn't see Clara. Confused, he waited a bit more. He went inside the TARDIS and received Clara's message. He shrugged after hearing her message and then returned to the town square. He met Mary and her son again where they invited him to join them on her picnic rug.

There were many people who were eagerly awaiting for the president. When the Doctor poured the steaming hot tea from the thermos, he heard a fanfare. The president walked onto the stage in an elegant white dress. The crowed stood up and cheered.

"Good evening everyone. I hope you are having a fantastic celebration. It has been exactly 1000 years since the war between the Preeonians and humans. Back then, there was nothing like this… it was said to be only gravel, dust and death. No grass, no trees, just desolation…." She went on. The Doctor started tuning out.

"… As a 1000 year anniversary of the civil war, I have an announcement to make." The president's confident voice travelled clearly through the speakers. The crowd murmured. The Doctor suddenly gained interest, raising his bushy eyebrow. Meanwhile, Clara, sitting on the sky lounge was doing exactly the same.

"As of today…" Clara heard a big bang. The statue of the Goddess blew up into pieces. The president, who was standing on the stage, right in front of the peace statue laid there without any movement. She looked at Theo, who sat there with sadness cast across his eyes. He turned to Clara. "I'm so sorry you had to see this. You have to run. We're under attack." He led her to a staircase. The old woman who spoke to her before gently stopped her and whispered into her ear.

"Clara, listen to me carefully. When you get to the ground, avoid the crowd and get to the marketplace. No one will be there so it will be easier for you to get back to your ship."

Clara nodded. The woman continued.

"And don't let the watch fall into the wrong hands. Keep it on you at all times." The old woman disappeared with the crowd.

As Clara was running down the stairs, she saw through the windows the president disintegrating into dust. When she reached the ground floor, everyone was in a state of panic. There was screaming, people pushing other people and chaos. Going with the rush, she remembered the woman's advice. She did as she was advised and managed to reach the marketplace once again. Empty as the woman had explained. Suddenly, a person wearing a purple cape just like Clara appeared and bumped into her, which made her fall over.

"Watch it!" Clara said, standing up again. Little did Clara realise that she had stuck something on Clara's cape.

"Clara!" The Doctor struggled out of the crowd and met Clara.

"What the hell happened?" Clara demanded answers.

Even the Doctor was shaken by what had happened.

"I… don't know." The Doctor answered, trying to catch his breath. There were a few more explosions, one to destroy the stage, and one near the maypole. Clara heard the crowd screaming in panic and people close to the explosion slowly turning into dust like just like the president. It was chaotic.

"Doctor, what is happening?! We have to help them!"

"We can't, it's impossible. We have to get to the TARDIS, quick."

Clara and the Doctor started running. Suddenly, they were surrounded by the policemen with guns pointed at them.

"Step away from each other. Put your hands up in the air." Surprised and confused, they did as they were told. The police came and knocked both of them down onto the ground and cuffed them.

"What have I done wrong?" Clara asked.

"Silence. You're under arrest for the law Preevon-2RT608, terrorism, assassination of the president and treason. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." Said a gruff sounding police officer.

Clara and the Doctor was pinned on the ground, confused. They searched them from top to bottom, and plucked out a tracker from her coat.

"Found the tracker." A policeman yelled, who had been searching Clara.

"Negative on this suspect." Another replied, who was on the Doctor.

She looked at the Doctor seeking for an explanation but she could see the Doctor was as confused as she was.

When they arrived at the station, they were thrown into a jail cell across each other. It did not have any windows, just a door with some holes, harsh white lighting and a CCTV.

"Doctor?"

"Clara?" came a voice from the other side.

"What the hell happened?"

"I don't know how, but you are apparently guilty of the bombing. The tracker was on your cape all along."

"What did I do? I mean, why would I bomb the town square?!"

"I know you didn't bomb the square. But can you remember who might have place the tracker? It might have been that guy who invited you to the sky lounge? How were you invited there in the first place?" Clara tried to answer them but she was interrupted when the door opened to both of the cells.

They took them into a separate interrogation room. The interrogation room was dimly lit, with a wooden table in the middle with chair on either side. The policeman locked one handcuff on Clara's wrist and one on the steel armrest pole of the chair. Clara tugged on it, frowning.

"Where were you doing when the incident happened?" The policeman asked.

"I..I was on the sky lounge, with a person called Theo."

He scoffed. "What was his last name?"

"I don't know. I met him today in the marketplace. He invited me to the sky lounge." The policeman gave Clara an unconvinced stare.

"So you meet a person from the marketplace, who offers you a seat in the sky lounge, and you just agree? First, the sky lounge is only for VIPs, and it is unlikely for you, a traveller, to be asked to join one of them. Second, you do realise there were no Theodore in the name list for the sky lounge. Do you know how weak your alibi is?" He yelled. Clara flinched, both confused and scared. "Besides, you were spotted and tagged by one of us right after you activated the bomb. You can confess now, which will save you from a death sentence." Clara's face became pale when she heard the word 'death sentence'. Her nervousness was now replaced by pure fear.

Meanwhile, the Doctor sat down in the other interrogation room.

"Where were you when the incident happened?" A policeman asked the Doctor.

"I was with a person called Mary. I had fixed her son's teddy bear before, and she asked to join her on her picnic rug."

"Mary? Oliver? That filthy Mr Teddy?" He asked again, confused. The Doctor nodded. "Ah, you must be her husband." The Doctor gave him a smile.

"Wait here." The man said and left the room.

"I have no choice." The Doctor said jangling his cuffs chained to the chair.

He came back with Mary, and Mary nodded in front of the door. "Yes, I was with him the whole time when it happened." The Doctor waved at her with a mad grin. Mary looked at him confusedly.

The police officer came in. "How do you know Clara Oswald?" he asked the Doctor.

"Is she in trouble? Clara didn't do this, I swear." The Doctor sat up straightaway. He was worried for her.

"Just answer me." He lowered his voice.

"She's just a friend of mine. My best friend. We travel together through space." 'And time' he muttered under his breath.

"Where was she when the incident happened?"

"She was invited to the sky lounge by someone. She left a message on my phone telling me about it." The policeman shook his head.

"Your stories match up, but she doesn't have enough alibi to be cleared of charges. In fact, all the evidences of the incident lead to her. The eye-witnesses, the recording on the CCTV and the tracker."

"No. She would never do this. She's only been here for two hours, how is that enough time to set up a mass-scale bomb to kill hundreds of people?! Besides, your tracker theory is flawed, what if the real terrorist found the tracker and placed it on her when everyone was panicking?" The Doctor tried to reason with him.

"Well I'm sorry. She'll still be charged as a suspect of terrorism."

"Let me talk to her!" He was becoming desperate.

"I'm sorry, I can't let you. Rules and regulations." He unlocked the Doctor's handcuffs.

"But you're free to go. You're cleared of all charges. Sargent Bennett will take you to the exit."

As he was led outside forcefully, he saw a man in a military uniform talking to a policeman.

"We'll take care of this from here onwards." The military guy said. The Doctor turned around. His eyes widened as he recognised the face. The face of nightmares. That was General Blackoff, the man who had slaughtered millions of humans to fuel his hatred for humanity. He had read about him in a history book as one of the worst war-criminals of the universe. Well, will be. It was still to happen for him. "Clara!" He hurried back inside, only to be stopped by Blackoff.

"Your friend will be under my protection. I promise." He said with an evil grin on his face.


	3. Chapter 2: Vlakos

Comparing the Doctor to Blackoff was like comparing a grey-haired stick insect to a big, menacing tarantula. The General was a very big person. He had big purple eyes, short military style hair and his body was built like a super soldier. The Doctor stared into his eyes with burning hatred.

"And what kind of protection is that?" The Doctor growled with hatred and anger.

"The kind of protection where she will not be sentenced to death. Even though she murdered hundreds of people…"

"Which she didn't." He added in annoyance.

"… I need to talk to her about her reason for doing so. The goddess would never approve of killing a man… or woman, no matter how bad that person might be." He smiled at the Doctor. But through the Doctor's eyes, he knew that wasn't a smile. That was just a mask to cover for the lies and evil plans laid inside his little, savage brain.

"General Blackoff, sir, what do you want us to do with the suspect?" a policeman asked.

"That's President Blackoff now Sargent Bennett." He corrected him ending with a twisted smile.

"Oh sorry, sir." The Sargent saluted. Blackoff laughed darkly. The Doctor watched the scene with pure disgust.

"Well, my dear Sargent, I am going to get my agents to interview her at Vlakos. This way, I believe we can protect her from the public and the interview would be more effective. And as for you, Doctor, you can meet her there. I'll permit enough time for you to talk to her." The Doctor looked at him in shock.

"How do you know my name and where is Vlakos?!" He tried to think of any arch-nemesis of his who might have been in relation with this character.

"You know, you're being extremely rude to the new president, Doctor." Blackoff said in a condescending tone.

"How do you know my name and where is Vlakos, _sir_?" He lowered his attack eyebrows as he growled with hatred and disgust.

"I had to read your files. You were taken in as a suspect as well. Lucky you had a clear alibi. Vlakos is a correction facility situated in the asteroid belt just off Preevos. Visitors are not allowed but I'll have a word with the warden to give you special privilege. I'll let you meet her after two weeks of adjustment period" He smiled again, but the Doctor could see through the mask of the evil psychopath.

"I thought by Preeonian law, the suspects had to have a fair trial before being sentenced to a correction facility?" Doctor said it almost with a growl.

"Not if the president signs a code red document. Besides, don't you see? I'm saving her from all the criticisms she's going to get from the public. What, do you want your friend to go through a trial just to see her sentenced to death?" He said in a condescending tone.

The Doctor thought every possible way to get her off the planet. But he knew how manipulative Blackoff was. He was worried by the fact that they were going to throw Clara into a prison, which is now under this idiot's control. In fact, he was scared. He did not want his best friend to go through this sort of thing. He suddenly paused, turned around, and smiled. He had the TARDIS! Easy-peasy. He'll intercept the transporter before it reaches Vlakos and rescue Clara. He turned around again to face Blackoff.

"No. Of course not." The Doctor coldly glared at Blackoff. "But I want to be able to see her right after she goes in."

"After one week. I am being generous here." Blackoff said.

"Fine." He spat.

"Great. Oh, look at the time. I must leave. Doctor, nice meeting you. Hope I see you again very soon." He nodded with another disgusting smile and left the building. As he left the building he picked up a phone. "I want to know everything about 'the Doctor'. He might be a threat to our plans."

The Doctor sighed heavily. 'It's okay, it's just an easy hop and back'. He reassured himself. There was a nagging part of his brain that asked 'but what if your plan doesn't work? What will you do then?' His thoughts were interrupted when the Sargent tapped his shoulder.

"Come to the police station in a week and there will be transportation arranged to take you there." He gave him a reassuring smile, and handed a piece of paper with the appointment date and time. The Doctor took it and placed it in his pocket. 'No need. I can do it myself.' He said to himself.

Meanwhile, Clara was still in the interrogation room. The policeman had gone out and hadn't come back for a while. Suddenly, the door clicked, breaking the room's deafening silence.

"Clara Oswald, follow us to the transporter." The chief unbuckled the chain that was connecting the handcuffs to the table and led her to a grey, cramped cylindrical object. Inside, there were people who looked hopeless strapped down in their chairs. They pushed Clara roughly onto an empty seat and tightly strapped her into it. They fixed some sort of headphones on her head before they exited the 'transporter'. She looked around to see the others with headphones on as well, some lost in their own world, some crying and all of them clearly scared about the destination of this transporter. Clara gulped.

Clara had no idea where she was going. However, this was all cleared up when the transporter started moving with a clunk. She already started to miss travelling in the TARDIS, even though she was temperamental to her at times. She dreamed that the Doctor would stop the transporter midway and rescue her from this place. Suddenly, through the headphones a computer distorted voice started talking.

"Prisoner name: Clara Oswald. You are currently heading to Vlakos correction facility for the crimes of terrorism and treason. Your assigned number is 563 and from now on you will only be addressed as your number. Addressing other inmates by their name is strictly forbidden. You will only speak to the staff members when you are spoken to. You will respect other inmates and will not engage in violence. You will be allowed no communication with any person or organisation outside this facility unless authorised. If you fail to comply with the rules, we are authorised to discipline you."

The recording played over and over throughout the journey. She tried to get it off her head, trying to shut out the harsh, mechanical, distorted voice that nagged her that she was guilty of a crime she was innocent of. However, the device was tightly fixed on her head and her hands were tied to the bottom of the transporter with a short chain. Clara sighed in frustration. As she closed her eyes, she saw the president disintegrating into dust on the stage. She opened her eyes again in shock. She decided to keep her eyes open, too afraid to see that image in her head again. After what seemed like forever, the transporter landed with a screech. Everyone woke up or started paying attention to the environment. The buckles automatically undid themselves and a guard connected the handcuffs in a row of chains. The air inside the transporter had become warm and stale. As they were led out, Clara was relieved at being able to breathe fresh air. Outside, the ground was made of black, rough and rocky sand and ahead of her, she saw a gigantic roundish building. Behind her was a massive crevice, that continued endlessly until it became pitch black. The inmates were outside, behind the steel fence eyeing on the newcomers with a threatening look. Clara's heart raced a thousand miles. She didn't belong here. She was innocent. When she looked up the sky, she admitted defeat. On the sky, she saw Preevos hanging like a picture. It was as big as the moon observed from Earth, only tagged with two moons around it.

The group was led into the building, strip searched from top to bottom and all of their possessions were confiscated. However, Clara was surprised that they did not take away her necklace with the pocket watch, it was as if they couldn't spot it. However, Clara didn't mention the watch. It was the only piece she would have of the outside world. Clara was issued with her uniforms which consisted of a dark red top and trousers and a brown slipper. She was given other supplies as well, such as a thin mattress, blanket and even thinner pillow, a pen and a rulebook. Once again, Clara was surprised when she found out that out of her group, she was the only one wearing red, which meant she stuck out like a sore thumb. When she asked the guards about this, she was answered with a disciplinary zap from a Taser and a yell, "silence!"

"563, the Warden wants to speak to you now." The guard led her in to a room decorated in red and brown, unlike the rest of the prison, which was black, white or grey. The guard pushed her onto an uncomfortable steel stool and was dismissed by the Warden.

The Warden did not look like a mean person. He was middle-aged, about 40 to early 50s and had pale blue eyes and blonde hair. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

"You don't look like a high-risk prisoner."

"I was wondering what these uniforms meant." Clara retorted. The Warden continued.

"So, what's your name? Don't worry, I'm not going to punish you for telling me your name." His tone was rather... bubbly and friendly.

"Clara." She answered, confused at his friendliness.

"Pretty name, Clara. Nice to meet you, I'm Gavin. So, Clara, tell me about yourself." He clapped his hands enthusiastically.

"You have my file, I thought you've read it by now?"

"Well, yes and no. I have your file, but I don't usually read prisoners' files because it makes me judgemental. I don't want to be judgemental, I want us to be friends." He said with a smile.

"Well, I was a traveller. I'm from Earth. I travelled around with my friend, the Doctor and I landed on this planet for a picnic. Suddenly, things happened and here I am." Clara said, frowning for the last part.

"Liar." Clara looked at him confusedly.

"What lie? I'm being painfully honest here."

"I don't like people who lie to me. If you lie, we can't be friends. Earth was gone a long time ago. Back when I was a little boy." He said. Clara mentally kicked herself again for being so stupid. Of course, the Earth would have been destroyed. She rolled her eyes.

"I guess I will have to read your folder. I don't trust you anymore, Clara." He frowned and opened the file laid in front of him. His eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in disgust. The Warden's voice suddenly changed from friendly to icy cold. "Actually, forget I said I wanted to be friends. You're not even worthy to be my friend nor are you worthy to have a name, 563." Clara looked away. She was so frustrated. She had no idea how to convince anyone that it wasn't her. If only she knew more about Theo, if only she was more careful, she would not have been in this mess. All of a sudden a phone rang. The Warden answered it.

"Yes? Yes, she's here. Sure, I'll send her there immediately." He hung up and called a guard from outside.

"Could you lead 563 to the interrogation room? The agents are waiting for her." The guard silently nodded and led Clara to the room.

Inside, there were two men in black suits. As the door locked, an agent spoke.

"Where is it?" An agent growled. Clara stared at him blankly.

"Where's what?" She answered.

"You know what." He said.

"You need to be more detailed than that. What's 'it'?" Clara asked again.

"The orb! The peace orb that was on top of the statue. It's not there anymore!" He slammed his fist on the table. Clara flinched at the sound.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She stared into both of their eyes, with sincerity.

"When you blew up the statue, the peace orb dropped on the ground. We sent a team to retrieve the orb but when we got there, it was gone. Don't try to lie to me Oswald. You took it. You were recorded on the CCTV."

"It. Wasn't. Me." Clara strongly articulated those words.

A fist connected to her cheek.

"Lari! Tell me where it is!" He yelled at her ear. Clara grabbed onto her cheek in pain.

"No. I seriously don't know what you're talking about! I am innocent of whatever you've charged me with. I didn't blow up anything. You've got the wrong person!" Clara yelled rubbing her cheek.

"Hey, he said don't use violence. We can use other ways to get her information." The other agent stopped the mean agent from delivering the second blow. Was that a Scottish accent? Clara saw a tiny glint of hope. The violent agent without the Scottish accent nodded. "Fine." He took out a metal bracelet from his suitcase and threw it on the table. It landed with a clang. The bracelet was dull grey and had a long, rectangular blue panel on the outside.

"This is a bracelet which targets and controls the human nervous system to create pain. It's designed especially for humans like you. This is your last chance. Tell us where the peace orb is now, and we won't have to use this on you." Clara stared at the 'Scottish' agent. She was suddenly so sure. She remembered Courtney standing up to her, just like she did when the half face man was threatening her for answers.

"Go on then, do it. I can't answer any of your questions. But know that my friend will always be watching out for me. Always. And once he sees what you do to me, he'll be very angry. And you wouldn't want to make him angry." She looked at the 'Scottish' agent to intervene. He walked over to her side and took her hand. He unlocked the handcuffs that was tying her to the ground. Clara was so grateful that the Doctor was here to save her once again from the danger. Then he emotionlessly reached out for the bracelet and placed it on her wrist. Clara's heart shattered.

"What are you looking at me for?" the 'Scottish' man spat.

She was wrong. He was not the Doctor. The blue light flickered on and the searing hot pain coursed through her body. She fell on the floor, taking in deep breaths trying to control the overwhelming pain.

"We'll be back next week. I hope you are more willing to talk then." The agent who she mistook for the Doctor said as they exited the room. The agents visited the warden.

"I need you to help us get her talking." The agents said as he tossed the file. "She's keeping something very important."

"Sure. She killed the president and hundreds of others. She deserves worse than this." Gavin said with hatred.

Meanwhile, back in the interrogation room, Clara laid on the cold floor trying to cool herself down. Her body felt like it was melting inside and out. Her brain was panicking from the overwhelming pain. The guard entered the room to see Clara on the floor.

"Get up."

"Please… Help... It hurts…" Clara managed to say.

"Too bad." The guard kicked her and forcefully got her up again. He dragged Clara into a cell and locked the door. Clara laid on the floor trying to hold back the pain, but it did not get better. Clara found that the less she moved, the less her body felt pain. She struggled up onto a hard bed and laid there, scrunched up in pain. "Doctor, help me." She sobbed. He was always there for her. Why wasn't he this time? She heard a cell door creak open and someone else enter.

"Oh my god." She heard a woman's voice as she blacked out.

She woke up. She didn't even realise she fell asleep. The pain was still there, but it wasn't as bad as before. Instead of a searing hot pain, it was a numbing throb. She looked around the cell block. It was a small grey cell with a small toilet in the corner of the room, and a bunk bed with thin mattresses. On the wall, there were pictures of a young, brunette girl in plats with a boy with blonde curls. She sat up and realised she was sleeping on the bottom bunk. She looked at the metal bracelet pitifully. The blue light on it shined dimly as if it were taunting her. She touched her arm with her other hand and hissed in pain.

"Dinner." The guard screamed into her cell. She ignored him and laid back on the bed. She wasn't hungry anyway, she just wanted to rest. He walked in, zapped her with an electric baton, and forced her to walk to the cafeteria, along with the other inmates.

She received her piece of bread and some kind of lukewarm green gloop and sat down alone in the corner of a table. An inmate wearing orange approached her. She was suddenly on alert. Her heart started beating faster.

"563, I was waiting for you to show up. Didn't you think we received news here too? You killed my wife and injured my two baby girls." He threw her plate of food on the floor. He then grabbed her by her collar and lifted her up. Clara flinched in the pain the bracelet was giving her.

"Look, I'm sorry about your family. I really am. But I didn't do it. It was someone else. Please, don't do this. We can talk about this." She pleaded.

"Yeah? Why don't you talk about it with my dead wife?" He punched her stomach over and over. Her pain was bad enough; now her body felt hundred times worse. He slammed her on the ground and left her. She laid there in pain. Some inmates joined in in kicking, stepping and other bullying activities as they went past. After a while, the bullying stopped and everyone started going back to their cells. Clara felt her face swelling up and blood trickling down the wounds. She winced as someone gently picked her up.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to take you to your… well, our cell." Clara half listened and half groaned in pain. She was gently placed onto her bed.

"Thank you." She said in a weak voice.

"No problem 563. I'm 294 by the way." She was the same girl in the photos, only a bit older and with glasses.

"Clara." She softly said. The blurry figure smiled.

"Miere." She replied. "Now have a rest. We can talk when you wake up, okay?"

"'kay." She fell into sleep again.

_"I think this is it. This is her." A woman's voice echoed in her sleep._

_"Are you sure? You know we only have one chance in this. If this is not her, all we've built up to will become nothing." Clara heard a faint guy's voice. They seemed like they were fighting over something._

_"Henry, I'm sure." The woman said._

Their dialogue faded as she dug deeper into her slumber.

Clara opened her eyes. First thing Clara saw was Miere's grinning face.

"Good morning! Well… night more like. It's lights out in 3 minutes. Well, that's okay, I wasn't going to sleep anyway. I hope you feel better, I've been applying some cream to get your swelling down. Sorry, should have asked. It was Henry's idea."

Clara sat up to see that her wounds were clean and was looked after and her bruises didn't feel terrible like before. "Who's Henry?" Clara groggily said. Didn't she hear that name in her dreams?

"Henry is my friend. He's almost like a brother to me." Miere said smiling. Clara had already forgotten the 'dream' she had.

"I want to show you something cool. Glad you woke up now." Miere said as she helped her stand up.

"Come on, come on!" She gently got her up and led her out of the cell. The cell door opened with a creak.

"Wait a second. If it's lights out, shouldn't the doors be locked?" Clara asked, seeing everyone else asleep.

"Complications, pfft. We can just do this." Miere clicked something and the doors closed by itself. Inside, she saw both Miere and herself asleep.

"How did you..?"

"I'm a genius." She winked. "It's just a hologram shell that makes it seem like we're in there sleeping. Clever, eh? Anyway, come on, even a snail can move faster than you."

Miere led her outside where the light reflected from Preevos was shining onto the ground. They walked for a bit until they reached a small cave.

"Tadaaa! Go ahead. Check it out!"

When she walked inside, she saw all the shining gadgets with blinking lights, made up of different things such as kitchen utensils, old bed frames and window panes.

"Took me five years to set all this baby up." She patted a console.

"What does it do?"

"Nothing yet. It's just useless like this. But, soon this is going to be our way home. You know, I was wondering if you wanted to join Henry and me. I figured you don't like it here. Everyone hates you. No offense. Don't worry, I don't like it here too."

"How did you… end up here?" Clara asked nervously.

"Oh, I didn't kill anyone if you were wondering. Henry and I got into trouble when we were very young because we exposed a military secret into the public. We got life sentence here, although I think it was harsh for 19 year olds. Tut. Oh well, the past is the past." She continued. "How about you?"

"I…I… apparently killed people." Clara replied looking out of the cave, ashamed. It was as if she was now accepting committing the crime. 'But I didn't kill anyone!' she screamed inwardly.

"Oh." Miere adjusted her glasses. The silence fell upon them. Miere starting fiddling with the materials in the cave. Miere frowned. "I was wrong, maybe you're not the one we're looking for." Miere whispered to herself.

"Sorry?" Clara said.

She smiled. "No, no, nothing."

Another silence consumed the cave.

This silence was broken when Clara bumped her arm on one of the equipment and hissed at the pain the bracelet was giving her.

"Still hurts? Oh man, I readjusted it ages ago. I guess it figured out the fault. It does that sometimes. I fiddled with it to hurt less. I'm sorry I couldn't turn it off, if I did, the people who might be monitoring it would have noticed it. Here." Miere adjusted the bracelet and the sharp pain dulled down to a throb again. Miere continued. "By the way, who's 'the Doctor'? You kept saying his name over and over." Clara's eyes widened.

"Oh, he's just a friend of mine. He's supposed to be rescuing me from this place but he's not here yet." 'Not here y_et_. He'll come in any day now.' Clara thought still believing in him. Miere gave a small hopeless laugh.

"People don't just escape from this place, Clara. We're on an asteroid belt, complete with a solar force field. It's impossible to navigate in and out of this place, unless you use the official route, which is equipped with cameras and radars to monitor every single ship." Miere explained. "Orrr…. If you have my program, which protects the cabin from the solar force field and predicts the movement of asteroids to help avoid them... Well, at the moment, it can predict up to 25% of the asteroids. Still a long way to go, but still… better than nothing." Miere shrugged. Clara smiled, imagining what Miere would think of the TARDIS.

"I didn't mention that he has the best ship in the universe. I believe in him. Either way, let's try our best to get away from this place as soon as possible, okay?" Clara gave Miere a smile.

"Yeah." Miere returned her a forced smile. "Anyway, we should start heading back. I'm done fiddling for tonight. I need more materials for the future. Some batteries, rocket fuel, lights and an analogue clock for the rocket to finish. The clock would be the hardest thing to get around here because only clocks they have are softwares on computer. I need the physical clock gears to make the ship 'tick'." Miere's eyes were gazing into Clara's eyes as if they were seeking for some truth. Clara looked away, uncomfortably.

"Umm… I will take care of the clock... If you'd like." Clara awkwardly smiled as she fiddled with the pendant. Miere's face relaxed, as if she was relieved… or happy?

They went back into their cells and Clara fell asleep on the bed. However, she woke up shortly after drenched in sweat. She woke from a nightmare where the Doctor coated in blood was asking Clara for help. It was still dark inside the prison.

"You okay?" Miere asked, hanging down from the top bunk.

"I… I'm okay. Nightmares." She said.

Suddenly, she heard the footsteps. She pretended to be asleep. Miere did the same. A cell door nearby creaked open.

"Please. PLEASE! No, I've told you everything!" There was a sickening cracking noise accompanied by a hideous scream.

Clara's heart started beating furiously again. Her cell door opened. The guard lifted her from bed and made her kneel on the floor outside the cells. Clara spluttered as they poured a bucket of ice cold water on her.

"Wakey, wakey. This is what happens if you refuse to talk." A man in a dark suit stood there. A prisoner laid there shaking in pain, his leg was bent in an unnatural state. The guy stepped on the broken leg. The prisoner screamed again in pain. Clara could now see the bone protruding his skin.

"STOP, you're hurting him!" She screamed, crying. She pushed the guy away before he could step on the leg for the second time. The guards threw her onto a wall and sprayed something on her face. She started violently coughing. It was as if she forgot how to breathe.

"Well, 563, that was very stupid of you. Then again, humans are never bright." He sinisterly chuckled and continued. "I hope you learnt your lesson. Do what the agents say, and you won't end up like this. That's all for today. Take him to solitary." The guards took the prisoner away.

"Wait, you need to take him to a doctor. You have to fix his leg first!" Clara said half-choking.

"No. That's his punishment. And it will be yours, if you don't co-operate. Let the sense sprays be the first lesson for you." He spat.

A guard threw her back into the cell. Miere jumped to her side.

"Clara, I want you to take deep breaths. Calm down." Something cool and wet rubbed across her face. When her coughing fit had died down, Miere placed her gently on the bed.

"Get some sleep. Just remember not to panic when you wake up." The smooth, cool hands brushed her face.

She laid there thinking about what had just happened. She couldn't stop thinking about him. He was harmed just because they wanted to teach her a lesson. She clenched her fist in anger.

The next morning she woke up to see Miere's worried face.

"Clara, stay calm. Just listen." She tried to speak, but nothing came out. "Yesterday, they sprayed you with a thing called sense sprays. It's like a pepper spray but it disables your voice for about a day." Clara gasped. Miere continued. "I know it's cruel. I know. There's no antidote for it because the effects are so strong. Just one day Clara. Don't tell anyone that your voice is gone, they'll treat you even worse than you are being treated now." Miere handed a memo book. "If you have to say or ask anything to me, write it on this." She gave her a kind smile.

When she went down for breakfast, the inmates bullied her again. She was beaten until breakfast ended. One of the guards tried to stop them, but he was beaten by the inmates too. The offenders were restrained and the other guards helped the man up.

"You okay mate? Why did you do that for?" One guard said to the guard who was attacked.

"I'll be fine. I wanted to apply for a holiday from this place."

"Haha, lucky you. See you in a week."

When they were put back to their cells, as Miere treated Clara's wounds again, Clara asked her about the guards' conversation through the book. She learnt from her that if the guards were attacked by the prisoners, they automatically got a pass for a holiday, length depending on how severe the attack was. Clara realised how badly she wanted her freedom back, being able to go wherever she wanted to. She sighed and daydreamed about the adventures she had with the Doctor. She questioned herself again. Where was the Doctor?

When they were led outside for 'outside activities', a guard approached her.

"563, come with me." Clara looked at Miere for help but she looked at her with sorry eyes.

"There's a video call for you. Another agent wants to speak to you." Clara opened her eyes in shock. She was sat down in front of a small, black and white computer screen. In front of her, there was a mic and a speaker, and a small red button that said 'terminate call' underneath. The screen turned on, and she saw the Doctor inside the screen.

"Clara?" The voice came with static. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. Clara wanted to say so much to the Doctor. But she didn't want him to see her like this, vulnerable and weak. Her camera momentarily turned on and she saw herself. All bruised and dangerously thin. She saw her own pained expression.

"Oh my god." The Doctor covered his mouth in shock. Clara quickly pressed the red button. The screen turned off and the connection ended. Clara's heart broke. It was the Doctor and it was probably the only chance she could talk to him. She placed her head on the table and cried.

When Clara was led back to her cell, Clara sat on her bed and sobbed. She had terminated the call from the Doctor, her Doctor. She hated this place. She hated everything about this place.

"Clara, what's wrong?" Miere asked. Clara started crying on her shoulder. Miere patted her back, trying to relieve her sadness.

The only good thing about Vlakos was that Miere was always there to support her. She sneaked in ice to relieve her bruises, odd snacks here and there and most of all, never made her feel lonely. She continuously brought in medicine made by Henry, which was almost magical in being able to heal her.

"Is Henry a doctor?" Clara wrote on the memo book, as Miere was applying another bit of 'Henry's concoction' on her bruises and wounds.

"Nearly. His parents were part of the Preeonian healers. He was going to be one too, I think."

Clara looked at Miere with a suggestive glance. Miere looked at her in shock.

"You're suggesting…"

Clara nodded. "The guy's leg?" She scribbled hastily.

"I… I don't know. Probably. I'll ask him the next time I see him. At lunch."

Lunch time, the bullies have stopped picking on Clara. But instead, they had 'accidentally' slipped a drug that induced vomiting. When Miere saw Clara again, she got Henry to create an antidote for the drug, which made her stop vomiting. Clara was very grateful.

"By the way, the man is going to be fine. According to Henry, it'll take about two days for it to heal." Miere said.

"Thank you." Clara said and she hugged Miere.

"Your voice… it's back!" Miere screamed with excitement. Clara smiled in relief. Clara was glad that her voice was back. It meant that she could do what she was planning to do since last night.

For dinner, Clara took a few pieces of bread, a cup of water and a few packet of nuts and sneaked upstairs before the inmates could attack her again. Clara didn't realise that a guard spotted her, but before the guard could intercept her, he was stopped by Gavin, the warden of Vlakos. "I need to see what she's going to do." Gavin whispered into his ears. The guard nodded and went back to his position.

She walked past her cell, following the arrow that pointed to 'solitary confinement'. She looked for any guards and approached a solid door. She opened the slit to see him inside with a bandaged leg, shivering in cold.

"Hey." Clara whispered. There were no response, only strained breathing.

She slid half of the food through the slit.

"I'm sorry you had to suffer. It's all my fault. You must be very hungry. The least I could do is this."

"Thanks." The faint voice said after a long pause.

Clara smiled.

While walking back, she heard a sob from another solitary cell. She stopped and looked in it. It was the man who got into trouble that morning for hitting the guard while beating her. The same man who beat her because his family was killed from the bombing. She tried to ignore it. But she couldn't. She let out a sigh.

She sat on the floor, leaning her back on the door.

"Hey. Don't say anything, just listen." The sobbing stopped. Clara continued. "Yesterday, you were very upset with me because you heard that your family passed away. I am very sorry for your loss. I lost my mum when I was nineteen. The emotional pain I had to go through was unbearable. Even with this experience, I can't imagine what it would be like to lose all of your family. But on my life, I swear that I had nothing to do with this. I was just a traveller here to admire the sight of Preevos, nothing else. That's all we did. My friend and I. Go to places around the universe and help out where we need to. This time, something went wrong. I was at a wrong place at a wrong time. But we will do whatever we can to help out. We will find whoever did this, and make sure that they get what they deserve." Clara slid the rest of her dinner through the slit. "Here, you've been here since breakfast, and I doubt you were fed anything."

Around the corner, Miere stood there watching without Clara's knowledge.

Clara walked back to her cell with an empty stomach. Miere wasn't back from dinner yet, so she laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She felt better for some reason. Better even though she couldn't talk to the Doctor and even though she was starving. She laid on the bed and sighed.

Clara turned around as Miere walked in with some food. "I was at the kitchen, and they had some food left over. Do you want some?" She smiled. Clara's expression became bright.

Meanwhile, Gavin was silently looking at Clara's conversation in the solitary confinement section through a surveillance camera.

"Gavin, I told you. She's not a killer." An old man said calmly.

"Hmm. Then why are the agents so interested in her? Also, the first time she came in, she lied to me. She said she was from Earth. She's a liar." Gavin said.

"Sometimes, lies protect you, Gav. Maybe she had to? Orrr… maybe she's not lying. She might be a time traveller. Annyway, you know, Blackoff might have taken control of Preevos. You did say the president was assassinated."

"By her." Gavin said, still with hatred.

"Might have been someone else. Come one Gav, be reasonable here. Do you really think that girl would have had something in her to be able to kill hundreds in cold blood?"

"We'll continue watching her moves." Gavin replied, staring at the screen.

"Anyway, I must be off, it's lights out already."

"Night John." Gavin said. He left Gavin's office. The corridors were already dark. He nodded as he went past a guard on watch. John stopped in front of Clara's cell.

"Oh, Clara. What are you doing here? What's the traveller doing in this stinking old place?" he said, observing her sleeping.


	4. Chapter 3: Doing Something Good

Clara never told Miere but the pain never left her even after she had adjusted the bracelet. She couldn't sleep properly from the pain from both the bracelet and the bruises from the inmates. These pain created the nightmares that plagued her. This time, she saw the president's body on the stage. When she picked her up, the empty eyes stared right into her eyes, as if she was accusing Clara of her death. The man in a dark suit came every night. He woke her up, and screamed at her, threatening to kill her if she didn't 'confess' to the agents.

This pattern happened throughout the week. After a few days, Clara gave up on everything. She gave up on the Doctor. She knew he could do nothing to help her out of this place.

"Clara, you haven't eaten anything properly for days." Miere crossed her arms, not impressed.

"I'm alright thanks. Besides, I have, thanks to you." Clara replied weakly.

"Crackers. That's not food." Miere corrected, looking at her with worried eyes. Clara's eyes had darks circles shadowing her eyes and was noticeably thinner than the first day.

The light turned off. "Well, lights off. I'm guessing you're not joining me again?"

"Nah, I'd rather stay here today." Clara had been declining the offer because she was too afraid to show Miere how weak she'd become. Clara just didn't want her to worry about her.

"Alright. I'll bring you some more food tonight. Do you need anything else?" Clara shook her head. Miere nodded and sneaked out of the cell.

Clara laid on the bed looking at the ceiling. In the corner of her mind, she was still expecting the Doctor to show up, but most of her had already given up. She was very tired but she did not dare to sleep. She kept seeing the Doctor asking for her help, where she should be the one asking him. What's happened to him? Maybe he was in trouble? Her 'daydreaming' was interrupted when she heard a sob from outside the cell.

At first, she tried to ignore it, probably thinking it was someone just like her, sobbing of their fate. But after a while, she felt the need to try making whoever it was feel better.

"Hello?" She gently called outside the cell. The sob stopped.

"You're supposed to be sleeping." The voice sniffled.

"Well, how about you?" She retorted.

"I'm supposed to be telling you to sleep."

"Well, you haven't yet. You're just crying. Are you okay?"

The voice said after a pause. "No."

"Tell me about it." Clara offered.

"You couldn't do anything about it even if I told you."

"It's better to share the load than to be overloaded." Clara suggested.

"I just got the news that my son is in critical condition."

"What's wrong?"

"He's had a heart disease from when he was born. We thought we fixed it, but it returned again and the doctors said that he only had a few months to live. I asked the Warden for a leave but he said he couldn't give me a leave unless the family member passed away. Rules and regulations. I fear that I will never be able to see my son again before he dies." She sobbed quietly again.

"I'm sorry." Clara said. Suddenly, a wild idea swept by her. "I think I can help."

She scoffed. "How?"

"I once saw a guard who was granted a holiday because he was attacked by an inmate." There was a silence, then the guard continued in a tentative voice.

"… so you want to hurt me?" Clara furiously shook her head, but then she realised the guard wouldn't be able to see her from the other side.

"No! I want to pretend I'm hurting you so you can see your son again. What's his name?"

"Tommy."

"And what's yours?"

"Kerryn. How about yours? Not your number. I never call anyone by their number. It's too dehumanising."

"I'm Clara. Nice to meet you. Okay, let me out, and I'll make sure you can go back to see Tommy."

"You do realise you'll get into trouble? They'll place you in solitary and discipline you."

"So? I'm going to be here a long time anyway. Why don't I make my time here worthwhile? It will be an honour to help you." The door clicked open. "Don't worry, I'm not actually going to hurt you. Are you ready?" Clara asked. The guard nodded.

Clara pushed her onto the open cell door making sure it made a loud noise.

"I hate you, I hate this place!" She screamed. Some inmates woke up and started peeking through their doors. "Since I am out of this stupid cell, I'm going to kill you, and then everyone else, one by one. You know what? I killed hundreds of innocent people back home, why not add more to the list?" Clara pretended to pin her against a wall. She helped by acting against her.

"Stop, stop this right now. C…co-operate and no one will be hurt!" The alarms started blaring and other guards shortly circled Clara and held a gun towards her. She took the gun from the guard's holster and pointed at her head. "Drop the gun!" She demanded and the guards followed. Clara whispered in her ear. 'Where's the kitchen?' They turned the corner and she led her to the kitchen. Clara locked the door.

"Quick, I need to make it look like I've beaten you up." Clara found a can of beetroot and smeared it on her face. "It's dark, so no one will notice if it's fake." Clara said.

When the other guard burst through the door, Clara managed to make her look like she was badly injured. "I'll do whatever you want." The guard started sobbing fake tears.

"Drop the weapon and put your hands up in the air." Clara slowly dropped the gun and did what the guards said. They made her kneel and restrained her at gun point. She was then placed in an empty, cold, white room. She was wearing a thin red shirt and pants which did not protect her from the cold. Clara sat there thinking about the Doctor and the past travels, shivering both in cold and pain. After what seemed like forever, two guards came in. She expected them to take her to her cell again but she was wrong. They repeatedly struck her with a baton, drenched her in cold water and left her there again.

"I told you. She is a murderer." Gavin said, watching her shivering through a surveillance camera. But John knew. He knew what exactly happened. He shook his head. He decided to say nothing to Gav for Kerryn's sake. He liked Kerryn. She was a nice guard, unlike the others. And she more than deserved the break she was given. He made sure to convince Gavin to give her the longest leave possible. A phone started ringing.

"Oh, that's the agents. You better go back to your cell John. It's going to be a long night for me." John nodded. He went past the solitary cell and slid a thin blanket to Clara.

"Miere, is that you?" Clara said. John chuckled and silently headed back to his cell.

Clara reached the blanket with her trembling hands and placed it around her. It didn't make a huge difference but she still felt warmer than before. She was there shivering and in pain but thinking about the guard going to see her son made her feel better. The next time the door opened, Clara was curled up into a ball, scared for another wave of beating. Her skin was now set with a thin layer of ice, stiff and cold, and her lips were purple and shivering. The guards grabbed her by the collar and threw her back into her normal cell again. Miere was leaning on the wall, with arms crossed and a disappointed look across her face,

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Miere scolded Clara like a mother scolding a child.

Clara clutched her thin blanket, still shivering. Miere placed her blanket around her as well and continued. "That was very stupid. None of the prisoners like you. Great job, now you've made a name amongst the guards as well." Clara looked away.

When she was thawed enough from the cold room, she explained to Miere what happened. Miere still shook her head. "That was still a very idiotic move. I'm proud of you Clara. You did what no one else would. But I'm still angry! Now get some sleep, you were in that place for almost 12 hours."

"By the way, thank you for your help back in solitary." Clara said hugging her. Miere stopped.

"What help?"

"The blanket? You gave me a blanket when I was in solitary." Miere shook her head.

"No I didn't. We were on lockdown thanks to you, I nearly got caught coming back to the cells from the cave."

Clara looked at Miere. "Then who was it?"

"Doesn't matter. Shut up and get some sleep."

For the first time in Vlakos, Clara didn't have any dreams. She was perhaps too tired.


	5. Chapter 4: The 'accident'

Miere was looking at her again when she woke up. She started talking in an apologetic, caring tone unlike the scolding tone she used before.

"Sorry to bother you Clara, but I need to readjust your pain bracelet again. I heard that the agent is back to interrogate you." Clara's heart sank. Her cuts and bruises from the inmates and the guards were still healing. She was scared. She was genuinely frightened.

"I'm so sorry. You ready?"

Clara looked directly into Miere's purple eyes. No, of course she was not ready.

Clara took a deep breath. Miere fiddled with the bracelet on Clara's wrist and Clara felt the pain rushing over her body again. She fell off the bed screaming in agony.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Should I change it back?" Miere started panicking.

"I'm… fine… thanks…" She said as she gritted her teeth. She breathed hard through her nose. The cell doors opened.

"563, get up. Prepare for interrogation. 294, go to breakfast." Miere nodded and quickly headed off, mouthing another 'sorry' to Clara. The guard dragged her into the interrogation room, where only one agent was waiting for her. Not the 'Scottish' one, but the violent one.

"Well, well, well. Miss Clara Oswald. Slept well? I see you've made your name amongst the inmates and the guards, nothing better than a good solid beating. I wonder who told them your name and that their families passed away. And your little incident yesterday, my, my, already becoming a star amongst the people here." He gave a maniacal laugh. "You must excuse my colleague. He sends his regards."

Clara stared at him with hatred. Her knuckles were white trying to withhold pain.

"Ready to talk?"

"No." She said through gritted teeth.

"Are you sure? Isn't it painful enough for you?" He mocked her. He punched her face. Clara felt blood trickling down her face.

"Talk." He demanded. Clara shook her head and closed her eyes preparing for the next blow. Suddenly his phone rang. He growled then accepted the call.

"Hello?... Yes sir…. What?!... Understood sir." He hung up. He left the room and brought back a sheet of paper.

"Good news. You don't need to tell us where the orb is anymore. President Blackoff said he will pardon you if you do two things for him."

"And what are they?"

"A public broadcast to all the Preeonians and the information regarding the Doctor." He handed a sheet of paper to Clara. It was a script that basically introduced herself and a confession of her crimes.

"No." Clara firmly declared.

"Just think about it. Guilty or not, if you do it, I'll let you go. If you don't, you can rot with the rest of the filthy prisoners in here. Oh, and one more incentive…" He locked another bracelet on her wrist. Clara screamed in pain. He took out another one. "I thought my friend taught you what happened to those who say no. Yes or no?"

"No, no, no, please don't do this… please!" Clara desperately pleaded. He locked another on her other wrist.

"Yes or no?" His hot breath brushed against her ear. She held back her tears from pain. It was as if the fire was spreading all over her body.

He took another two out. Clara vigorously fought against the handcuffs.

"Please… Stop." She felt her tears flowing freely down her face.

"Let me ask you one more time. Yes or no? What will it be?"

"… No." Her brain was screaming 'yes' in pain, but she tried very hard to ignore it.

The man sighed. "Clara, you are so stubborn." He placed the two bracelets in both of her ankles.

"Since I'm a nice guy, I'll let you think about that. Let the idea simmer in your mind. Keep thinking about it." He smirked.

She collapsed from the chair onto the floor in pain. "Doctor, help me. Please save me." She whimpered over and over. The pain slowly faded away as she blacked out.

She woke up on a grey cell. The cell smelt damp and was very cold. Clara gently pushed the barred cell door and realised it wasn't locked. She walked out of the cell and saw people in other cells muttering to themselves, pacing around the cell and yelling to get them out of there. She crouched down, clutching her pounding head in pain. Everything was so fuzzy. Then, she struggled on. She stopped in front of a particular cell. In the corner, she saw a man curled up, silently crying. She pushed the door and realised that it wasn't locked either. (She also realised that none of the doors to the cells had locks to begin with). Clara approached him and crouched next to him.

"Are you okay?" She said it with the utmost care. He felt different. He didn't feel like anyone else in these cells.

The man abruptly stopped crying. He slowly lifted his head from his knees.

"Clara?" It was a weary Scottish voice. Clara backed away, stunned. He wiped his tears and faced her. He wasn't wearing the black coat, only the white shirt and the black trousers.

"Doctor?" Clara could not believe her eyes. The Doctor stood up as she stood up. Instinctively, Clara ran up to hug him. She didn't notice the Doctor's flinch.

"I missed you, I missed you so much." Clara said as she burst into tears.

"What happened to you? You shouldn't be here." The Doctor sounded almost disappointed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry about the call. I just couldn't… I couldn't…" She burst in to tears as she let go of the hug. Clara felt something sticky running down her arms. She looked at it and looked at him in shock.

"Clara…" The Doctor tried to calm her down.

"Ddddd…doc…toorr…" She stammered as she pointed at his white shirt. She stepped back a few more steps. Her shirt was dripping with blood. His blood. She now realised that his white shirt was completely drenched in red. He collapsed face first onto the cold, hard cement floor.

"C..lara… wake… up…" Clara turned him over. There now was a long gash on his forehead pouring with blood. Clara was lost for words. She just sat there holding his body draining of life. "Stop them… they're… using… you…" His eyes weakly closed. She dropped the Doctor's body in pain. "Please Clara." He laid there repeating her name gradually becoming softer and distant. "Clara… Clara… Clara…"

"Clara!" The voice gradually changed to someone else's. Clara gasped as she opened her tear filled eyes. A familiar person came into her view.

"Clara, are you alright? Can you try moving your fingers?" Clara twitched her fingers and toes. She quickly sat up panting.

"W…What happened?" Clara croaked.

"I don't know. You were gone all morning and afternoon. I found you stone cold on the floor, five of the bracelet things and no heartbeat. I thought I lost you then. I had to get Henry to come in and help me with CPR and fixing your arm… also with some of this: Henry's concoction. You were so weak to begin with because you haven't had proper food for almost a whole week, maybe even longer. Henry made some chemicals to aid you wake up and regain some energy." Clara noticed an IV connected to her arm.

"… Thanks… again…." She croaked.

"No problem." Miere smiled. "I've toned the bracelets down again. I'm trying to figure out a way to disable them. Hold on for a few days." Clara nodded.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go to work in the kitchen." Then she whispered, "So I can steal some batteries off the fire alarms." She snickered.

"Rest up. See you later!" She waved goodbye and left the room. The doors shut behind her again. Clara fell back into sleep. When she woke up for the second time, the alarms were blaring.

"Prisoners evacuate to the closest exit." The metallic voice repetitively said through the speakers.

Clara saw a thin layer of green fog slowly inching towards her. The smell in the prison was terribly bad. It was a sharp, pungent smell as if someone had sprayed bleach everywhere. She saw an old man limping away from the gas.

"Get out of here! The fog, it's toxic. That's chlorine gas, once it touches you, it will burn your skin and once you inhale it, it will melt your lungs." The old man screamed. Clara started running for the exit, scared. She suddenly heard the man fall over with a thud. The green fog surrounded him and he started choking in the thick sea of gas.

"Chlorine gas… used for World War one…. Never paid attention in history class, nor chemistry…" Clara ripped off a piece of cloth from her uniform. She made a mask out of the cloth and she jumped in, immediately feeling the chemical eating away her skin. She quickly dragged him out, wheezing, and started half-jogging with him, trying to outrun the toxic chemical.

"Help!" She heard the banging of the cells. Half of the cells were in locked down.

"Centre tower… up the stairs… big red button" The old man said, half wheezing. "I will slow you down… Go quickly." He said as he pushed Clara's support. He fell onto the ground coughing severely. "Hurry."

Clara found the centre tower, where there were lights for every locks and doors either green or red. Half of the lights on the panel were red and the other half were green. When she pressed the big red button, all the lights turned red. She found a gas mask on the 'emergency use only' box and placed it over her head. When she ran back to where the old man was, everyone else had already gone. She turned around to see a thick fog approaching like lava flowing down a volcano. She flung one of his arm on her shoulder and limped to the exit that led outside.

"Lockdown in one minute." The metallic and automatic voice announced. The room was now ankle deep in the toxic gas. The old man's coughs became more frequent and harsh.

"Here, have this. It's not far now, come on." She took the gas mask off her face and placed it on his. Clara instantly felt her lungs rejecting the toxic air. Her insides felt like burning as well as her outside. Her eyes were now tearing up, blurring the exit door. As soon as they walked through the doorway, the doors closed shut.

"Lockdown initiated."

Clara leaned on the door in relief. They had finally made it. Beyond the door, she heard a weak knock.

"Help! Get this door open!" A croaky voice accompanied by wheezing sounded through the intercoms. Clara's heart sank. Clara frantically tried to open the door but when it was already deadlocked.

"I'm sorry. I can't." Clara placed a hand on the small circular window on the door. Another hand was placed on the other side of the door.

"What's your name?" Clara asked, trying to make her as comfortable.

"Julia."

"How old are you?"

"25." She was too young. Clara paused. She put her hand down and saw Julia wearing a gas mask. Through it, she could see that she was crying.

"I'm going to die." She said.

"You're going to be fine. Look, you're safe, you're wearing a gas mask. I'm sure they're extracting the gas out as we speak." She gave a smile.

"I'm going to die before that. This mask is faulty. I'm still breathing in low concentration of Chlorine. I can feel it." She said with a croaky voice, coughing.

Clara closed her eyes again. She didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry." Her heart shattered into million pieces.

"I was an orphan. But I did have a sister called Lizzie. If you find her, please don't tell her I died. Tell her that her sister loves her very much and she will always be looking out for… her." Julia sank down from Clara's sight. She heard weak wheezing, then silence.

"Julia. No. Julia!" Clara banged on the door. There was a small burst of golden light and then Clara saw nothing but yellow green gas.

She leaned on the door devastated. She sank down on the door and cried. Miere crouched next to Clara and hugged her. Gradually, more people joined them and the group mourned for Julia's death.

By dinner time, all the toxic gas was cleared up and all the minor and major injuries were treated. Vlakos was back to normal again.

In the cafeteria, before she could line up for the food, she was already offered a plate of food from the others. As she went past, everyone shook her hand to thank her.

The two men who had bullied Clara from time to time approached her. Clara placed the food on the table and slowly backed away. "Look, please don't do this. I'm sorry. Please." Fear flashed on her face.

"No, stop, I'm here to apologise. I'm sorry we were jerks before. Thank you for the food back in solitary. I really did not deserve your kindness back there. I thought about what you said and if there are any way we can help in your mission, we will be there for you. I'm so sorry for what I did to you for the past few days. I feel terrible. Also, thank you, for saving us." Clara hesitantly shook their hands.

She sat next to Miere with her food. She was not used to the sudden friendliness.

"Thank you." Miere said, smiling gratefully.

"I don't know why I'm being thanked, I couldn't even save Julia." Clara whispered, regretfully.

"When the toxic gas was leaking, someone had programmed half of the prison to go in a lock down, instead of the evacuation mode. When you went into the control panel and opened all the doors of Vlakos, you saved many people from choking to death."

"I couldn't save Julia." She looked away in disappointment and regret. She was feeling guilty that she couldn't even open the damn door.

"You minimised the casualty from Julia and another 500 inmates to just Julia." Miere sadly smiled.

"You know what's weird?" Miere asked.

"What?" Clara stared back.

"There is an air filter system through Vlakos. And Chlorine gas is never formed naturally. Which means someone probably got into the air system and poured Chlorine gas in the effort to poison us. They even programmed the doors to malfunction. It seems that whoever they are, they want all of us dead." Miere whispered. Clara froze momentarily in fear.

That night, the man in a dark suit came again. The guards dragged her out once again and poured ice cold water on her.

"Well, well, well, aren't you a little hero now?" He smirked. Clara started running away but fell down as a guard struck her knee with an electric baton.

"What do you want? Why are you doing this to me? Please, just leave me alone!" Clara exclaimed.

"This is about the Doctor." Clara kept a neutral face but silently gasped on the inside. 'The Doctor? Was he in trouble?' she thought.

"Tell me about him. Tell me his weaknesses. Tell me what species he is." He said it in a sinister voice circling around Clara like an eagle circling around its prey.

"Doctor? Doctor who?" Clara pretended as if she didn't know him. They struck her again with electricity. Clara fell on the floor in pain.

"You're a liar. I saw you talking. I hear you when you are asleep. Calling him, dreaming about him. He must be a close friend to you, if not, very."

Clara growled. "If you lay a finger on him, I swear I will…"

"You will… what? You're in a prison darling, you can't do anything." He teased. "Take her out." He demanded. The guards went into her cell and dragged Miere out. They made Miere kneel and the man grabbed a bunch of her hair to forcefully lift her head. He took out a small, light blue box and roughly placed it on Miere's head.

"This is called a Peb box. If I activate it on a person's head, this happens." He quickly grabbed a guard standing next to him and activated it on his head. She saw a small blue charge pulse through his body and he was dead in seconds. The body fell next to Miere. Miere whimpered. "Of course, I can tone it down to give her agonising pain." He activated it on Miere's head and the box started pulsing in red. Miere screamed in pain. Blood started pouring out of her nose.

"Stop! Please, you're going to kill her!" Clara started crying.

"Tell me who the Doctor is!" He screamed.

"No. I can't!" She shook her head as she cried. She stared at Miere, helplessly. Her tears turned into blood. "Clara, don't tell him about the Doctor." Miere said, struggling for breath. "He's a spy. He'll kill your friend if you do." Miere closed her eyes. The man threw her on the ground and she crumpled on the floor like a rag doll.

"Miere!" She screamed as she tried to get up. But she fell down as the guard next to her struck her knee again with the electric baton.

"No, no. Don't worry. She's still breathing. But I can stop that." The dark suit man laughed sadistically as he placed the box on Miere's head again. "I'll give you three seconds to decide her fate." He smirked.

"Three."

Clara shook her head. The Doctor or Miere? She had to choose.

"Two."

Clara was getting desperate. What was she going to do? Miere opened her eyes and weakly shook her head.

"One…" the Peb box started charging the pulse.

"TIMELORD! He's a Timelord. Now stop. Please, don't kill her, she did nothing wrong." Clara pleaded.

He laughed maniacally. "Oops, I changed my mind." The pulse activated and Miere's face drained of all life. Suddenly, there was a bang and the man fell along with the guards. The old man stood behind him, with fingers on his temples. He ran up to Miere and checked her pulse. He placed a hand on Miere's forehead.

"There's still hope. Get Henry. His cell is here." He said with a hoarse voice. He touched Clara's head, which gave her information to find Henry and to open his cell.

"Miere?" Henry opened his sleepy eyes as the door opened.

"Clara. Miere needs your help. Quickly." Henry woke up instantaneously, grabbed some kind of a box and ran with her to Miere.

Clara looked at Miere anxiously as Henry was treating her. It was all her fault. She could have prevented this. The old man sat her down on the bed inside her cell. He sat next to her.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine. The name's John by the way. Nice to meet you." He shook Clara's hand.

"Thank you, for saving her life. Thank you for saving mine." Clara said.

"No. Thank you for saving mine. I would have died without your help." He replied. Clara recognised him as the old man who she had saved in the Chlorine gas leak incident. There was an awkward pause. "So…The Doctor, I see you care a lot about him." John said.

"He's my friend, my best friend." She replied.

There was another awkward pause. But John clearly wanted to say something to her.

"Clara." He looked into her eyes. "I want to teach you how to protect yourself. I've been watching you for a while. I needed to see who you were."

"What, you want to teach me how to shoot people dead?" She said as she pointed at the guards laying on the floor.

He laughed. "They're not dead, they're asleep. I want to teach you how to protect yourself from the people, like them, who try to harm you and your friends." He then continued. "I used to work alongside the president as a military general a long long time ago. She was a good person. One day, a bad man called Blackoff set me up and sent me here on a life sentence, so that he can be in charge of the Preevonian military. He had this belief that Preevos is a place for Preevonians and no other species. We call them non-believers. The people who do not believe in Goddess' ways of peace. He's been plotting how he could get rid of the human race for a long time with other non-believers. I heard that the president was now dead, which means the human race in Preevos is in big trouble. I was looking for someone I can train to stand up to Blackoff and his army. Someone who instinctively believes in peace. Someone who is naturally good. Finally, a person who can lead and be impactful." He placed his hands on her temple.

'and I believe you are the one I am looking for.' He said through her mind. His lilac eyes sparkled. Clara stared at him in astonishment. "and I can teach you that too." He smiled. "So, what do you say?"

Clara was skeptical but decided to believe him for a bit as she had nothing to do anyway. She nodded slowly and hesitantly. The old man gave her a brilliant smile.

"When do I start?"

"I will get you, soon. But for now, I have some things to take care of." He said, pointing to the bodies outside.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Somewhere on Preevos.

"Oh Clara, my Clara." The Doctor gulped in pain. "I'm sorry, but I need your help." He muttered, almost out of breath. He didn't really understand where he was, nor why he was there. He would have known, if it wasn't for that inhibitor they've planted across his forehead. That muddled everything in his brain. It was like looking through murky water, only it was his memories he was trying to look through. There was a tube fed to his lungs providing him with god knows what. But he knew it wasn't oxygen as his body was slowly switching itself to the Timelord bypass system, the biological system used by Timelords when there's not enough oxygen for him to breathe. He couldn't see much but he knew that he was inside some kind of an operating theatre. A door creaked open.

"Hello again, my beautiful creature. Now I know what you are. Timelord." The man laughed maniacally. "Since I know exactly what you are now, I've made you something special." He whispered into the Doctor's ear. The Doctor's eyes widened as he saw what it was – aqueous aspirin.


	6. Chapter 5: Clara's Training

Clara was back in her cell. This time, it was her looking after Miere.

"Look how the tables have turned Miere. You were always the one who looked after me. It was time I looked after you too." She smiled. Henry walked in with a key card. Clara looked at him, confused.

"You have a key card now?" Clara said.

"Yup. They thought I was responsible enough for one. And before you ask, no, it doesn't open any other doors except yours and mine and I have time restrictions." Henry replied. "Now, how is she doing?" Henry checked Miere with his make-shift detectors.

"The same as before. Is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know. The Peb boxes are designed to kill people quickly. It sends an electrical pulse to your brain, which counteracts the brain activity to almost zero. But you called me early enough to stop the effects from spreading. I tried my best to get her brain going again, but she won't be awake for probably a few weeks. You would have to brace yourself, she might not remember any of us." Henry said. Henry continued checking over Miere now with his stethoscope.

"Few weeks? How is she going to survive a few weeks without anything in her system?! We need to get her to a hospital."

"Relax Clara, I've built a life support system. This should be able to sustain her for at least a year." Henry said as he placed a small white cube next to her bed. He attached a circular thing all over her body. "No tubes needed" He grinned.

"How did you get all these machinery?" Clara asked. They were in a prison, yet in Henry's 'first aid kit', there were all sorts of detectors, compact medical gadgets and medicine.

"Some were given to me by the Warden, some were built by Miere, and some were created by me. Few years ago, Blackoff decided to make the prisoners' life as miserable as possible. He pushed for an inhumane option, cutting off staff members including the only medic we had. When I came in, the Warden and I came to an agreement. If I helped the inmates who needed help, he would make sure Miere and I received better treatment. I agreed, and he gave me some of the equipment the last medic had left and materials needed to build the others."

"Hence Miere can go in and out of prison without setting off an alarm." Clara added, realising why Miere had never been 'caught' for breaking out of prison.

"Yeah, and that too." Henry smiled and nodded.

Clara watched as Henry caressed Miere's face. Clara had a burning question she wanted to ask Henry.

"So, can I ask how you guys met each other?" Henry lifted his head.

"When we were eleven." He sat on the side of the bed alongside Clara. "I was walking back home with my parents after they finished work. It was quite dark that night, because it was just after the suns went down and before the moons rose. While going through an alleyway, I heard a moan coming from a rubbish dump. My dad thought it was a stray cat so we went past it. The next day, I brought a bowl of milk and a can of tuna to try to see it. When I opened the dumpster, I found a girl, covered in blood and medical tubes, and naked. I ran back to my house and called my parents. When she got better, my parents tried to track her parents down, but it was impossible. We adopted her and we ended up growing up together, like brothers and sisters." He said, giving her a sad smile.

"So… siblings yet not really? Interesting." Clara said. She knew Miere was in love with Henry, even though she didn't admit it. It seemed Henry was as well.

Clara and Henry jumped as Miere gasped for air.

"Oh my god, Miere, you're awake!" Henry shined a torch on her eyes. Miere slapped it out of the way.

"What happened?" Miere rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Did I miss anything?"

"Miere, do you remember me?" Clara asked, hoping the answer was yes.

"Of course Clara, why wouldn't I? Why are you guys looking at me like that?" Clara and Henry sighed in relief.

"What's the last thing we did together?" Henry asked. He fidgeted with the torch in his hands. They looked at her nervously.

"There was a gas leak, then we had dinner, we came back and we went to sleep. Blimey, I must have been really tired to fall asleep." Miere stretched her arms. "Seriously guys, what's up? You guys look like a stunned blowfish." Miere gave them a teasing smirk.

"I thought she wasn't going to wake up for at least few weeks?" Clara whispered after turning her back from Miere.

"I don't know, I don't really know what happened. The last time I scanned her, her brain activity was very low. Like coma low. It's impossible for her to wake up so early, and even if she did, she would have received some heavy memory loss."

"What are these on my body?" Miere said, taking the round things off her.

"Miere, I need to do some tests, first I need you to…."

"Now now, don't pester Miere, she's just woken up. Perhaps, you could save the tests for later." It was John outside the cell door. "Hello Clara." He opened the cell door. "Are you okay with leaving or should I give you time to talk to your friends?"

Clara looked at Henry and Miere laughing with each other.

"Nah, I'm good. I think they need some time to themselves." Clara stopped while heading to a gym. She remembered when Miere fell over, John had placed his fingers on her head, doing whatever he was doing.

"It was you!" She exclaimed. "You saved Miere. You did that… that psychic thing!"

"I only helped preserving the memory. The rest, I believe was all thanks to you and her 'loving' brother." He chuckled. Shortly after, they arrived at the gym.

"Whoa. Can the prisoners use these?" Clara dropped her jaw. The gym was a very big facility covered in soft foam floor, with exercising equipment, mirrors and other accessories.

"No, it's for the 'Warden'. But I asked him to build it for me, because I didn't want to forget what I've learnt over the years. We were close friends. The Warden knows that I didn't do anything wrong so he gives me privileges such as a key card to anywhere in Vlakos and basically a right to freedom in the asteroid belt. Anyway, before we start, give me your arm." He took out a small device. The pain bracelets, which were still on Clara, all opened with a clank. The dull, achy pain disappeared.

"How did you cope?" He said, observing the bracelets.

"I… I don't know. I guess I got used to the pain." Clara shrugged.

"You're lying. You've been having bad dreams, haven't you?" John said. Clara slowly nodded. "May I?" he asked for Clara's consent. Clara nodded again. He touched Clara's temples.

John breathed heavily as he concentrated on her thoughts. He gasped. "Your dreams… your nightmares, I've blocked the source. But I can't guarantee it will hold." He held Clara's hand. "I'm sorry. I really am."

"No it's okay." Clara said. "Nothing to be sorry about." She shrugged. Why would he be sorry?

"Right, let's start training." He changed the topic.

In the first part, Clara learnt how to physically protect herself and counterattack the attacker.

"I am not going to teach you how to kill people. I am going to teach you how to disable your opponents without harming them." John said as he pressed a point somewhere on her shoulder.

"OW! I can't move my arm." Clara exclaimed.

"I've paralysed your arm. It will take three hours to heal or…" He pressed the part again. "You can do this."

Clara rubbed her arm in pain.

For a few weeks, she learnt various things such as, how to put people to sleep, how to disable the gun while at gunpoint and how to dodge attacks.

"You're quite fit for a human." John was clearly impressed.

"Well, I did quite a lot of running in the past…" Clara smiled. 'Either for my life with the Doctor or cadets with Danny' she added as an afterthought.

Clara noticed that John kept eyeing on her neck, as if he saw something was there but couldn't really place it.

In the second part, she learnt how to use the psychic powers and how to protect herself and other people from mental attacks. The first day of the lesson, John placed two fingers on her temple and unlocked the psychic senses in her mind. She could suddenly feel John's psychic waves.

"Whoa." Clara said looking around, feeling for other psychics' powers.

"Humans are usually not strong psychics but everyone could be a psychic in the right circumstances." John said.

"Today's lesson is an important one." John brought the blue box out. The peb box, which nearly killed Miere. "I'm going to teach you how to slow the effects."

Clara panicked. "What? You're going to use it on me?" Clara inched back.

"In short, yes." He twirled it around. "I've adjusted this peb box so it doesn't kill you. Doesn't mean it's not going to hurt. Activate it on me." He handed Clara the box.

"NO!" She dropped it. Clara was never going to hurt him.

"Trust me. It's okay." John coaxed her into doing it. She hesitantly held the box and touched john gently with it. John's face went red as the blue lights surged through his body. Suddenly, the peb box sparked and it flew out of her hand.

"Got it?" He panted.

The peb box was more painful that Clara thought. As soon as it activated, it felt like her body was turning inside out. Her heartbeat became strained and she couldn't see or hear anything except her heart beating. They did it several times, where she managed to flick it away a few times. They stopped before it was too much for Clara to handle.

"Once you're touched by the real peb boxes, it will be worse. It will poison and shut down your body organs, one by one. But you can you can protect yourself with that skill." John explained.

She wasn't very good at using the psychic powers at first but managed to be okay at it by the end of the training period. She managed to learn things such as stopping the Peb boxes, blocking her thoughts from mental attacks to connecting with other psychics and sending them mental messages. When Clara mentally connected with John, she saw him smiling and nodding in realisation. 'But realisation of what?' She questioned herself.

Her trainings took things off her mind and made her happier. She was still plagued by nightmares of the Doctor at night, even if John had 'blocked the source'. But, the nightmare did become less and less frequent over time and that made her happier. In the daytime, Clara caught up on sleep and plotted the voyage home with Miere. At night, she was down at the gym training with John. She was becoming accustomed to being in Vlakos. She never thought she would be, but here she was.

Before the final lesson started, John placed a small box on her palm.

"What is it?" Clara asked.

"Open it. It's to thank you for being a wonderful student." John beamed away across his wrinkled face. Clara slowly opened the box to find a shiny ring inside. The ring was made of swirls of gold and silvery material, just like the pocket watch. In the middle, there was a glowing white gem embedded on the ring. Clara gasped.

"When I said that I believed that you are be the one who can save the humanity in Preevos, it was a white lie. I didn't tell you the whole truth. Someone before me had already chosen you as the protector of the humanity." He unchained her necklace and placed the pocket watch on her other hand.

"I thought I saw this on you, but I couldn't understand why. But in the last mental training, I saw it through your eyes. I then understood what it was." John smiled with sadness in his eyes. 'Why was he sad?' She thought. John continued:

"Who gave this to you? Was it the president? I know you didn't kill the president, don't worry." He reassured her and asked.

"Someone called Theo." She replied, surprised that he was able to pick the pocket watch out. John nodded, after piecing it all in his head together.

"Of course, it had to be the young, dashing Theodore. That family was always in front of everybody else. I miss them very much." He smiled, reminiscing of the olden days.

"What do you mean? Wait. You mean… Theo is the president's son?" The last part of the sentence triggered a flood of memories.

John nodded. Clara's eyes widened both because she was surprised and shocked. 'Theo saw the whole thing… He saw his own mother being murdered in front of his eyes.' She thought, feeling sorry for him. She then remembered how sad Theo looked. It all made sense now.

"The story is too long to tell, and I am not the right person to tell this story. Just know that this ring will always protect you." He took it and pushed in through Clara's finger. Initially, the ring was too big for Clara's narrow fingers, but just like magic, the ring shrunk into the size of her finger. Clara stared at it in amazement.

"From today, I'll teach you how to use the ring. This ring is not an accessory, but an equipment made to aid keeping peace. If you make a fist, it will create a force field shell around you. Just like every legendary items, such as your pocket watch, it is psychically linked to you. When a group of you are under attack, you can command it to create a force field around everyone. Just beware of mental attacks. They will stop you from controlling the items as it breaks your psychic link with them."

For months and months, she trained with John. Then the last training day dawned. When it finished, John stood in front of her and shook her hand.

"I hope in the future, you can use this skills for peace, not chaos. You've been one of the best students I've ever had." John smiled.

"Thank you John, for everything." Clara hugged him. When she let go of the hug, she stood there, lost in her thoughts. John started packing up the equipment in the gym.

"John." She gently called.

"Yes, Clara?" He turned around.

"Can I ask you a favour?"

"Sure thing." John smiled.

"I want a phone call." John's smile faded. Clara knew John had access to every place in Vlakos. She'd seen him carry around a key card like Henry. But unlike Henry's, his key card worked everywhere and whenever. She had been so into the training, she had forgotten about the Doctor. Now that she thought about it, it was very weird for the Doctor to not come and rescue her immediately, especially after seeing her through the video chat in that state. Whenever she was in trouble, the Doctor was always there to save her, or had always contacted her promising her that he'll be there. It had already been many months since she had set foot in this place and there were no signs of the Doctor, not after the 5 second video call. She had a bad feeling he was in trouble too. She kept thinking about the recurring nightmares she had where the Doctor was asking for her help, covered in blood.

"1 minute max. Or they'll notice." He replied with a firm expression.

"That's enough. I just need to know if my friend is fine."

They sneaked into the empty Warden's room.

"Where's the warden?" Clara asked.

"He's… away." Clara saw a tiny glint of tears in his eyes. She decided not to ask about it more.

She picked up the phone and called the TARDIS. The connecting tone continued. Clara paced around the room. "Pick up, please pick up, please pick up." It went to voicemail. "This is the Doctor. If you have this number…" "Hello?" A gruff voice answered. But Clara knew for a fact that it wasn't the Doctor's. "Hello Clara." He laughed slowly and darkly. "I am President Blackoff. We haven't met yet, but I've heard a lot about you from your dear Doctor. I should probably mention that I have your Doctor in custody. I hope you are afraid because I will cut, him, up, bit by bit until nothing is left of him. You see, at first, we didn't know what he was. But thanks to you, we found out that he was a Timelord. Oh yes, I was listening to your conversation through him. You see, Timelord bodies, as you know, are remarkable. We need some of their genes to make Preeonians the best race possible. I hope you're enjoying your time at Vlakos. Don't try finding him, because I will get to you and your dear little friends first. I'll kill you and I'll kill that pesky little John. You'll see." There was a manic laughter on the phone before he hung up. Clara dropped the phone in disgust. She kneeled on the floor and breathed deeply in and out.

"You okay?" John asked, worried.

"I'm fine." She place the phone back to its place and sprinted back to her cell. John knew she wasn't fine.

"Miere, Miere!" Clara went back to her cell frantically looking for Miere.

"Clara? Why are you so pale?" Miere said as she put her book down.

"No time for questions, we are leaving, tonight." Clara demanded.

"Yeah, but I still need a clock and rocket fuel. I can't get that until next week Wednesday when the next batch of prisoners arrive in the transporter."

"I have a clock, here. Just please, get Henry to make it or something, he probably knows how to create chemical compounds! We HAVE to leave tonight." Clara desperately begged. She unchained the necklace and placed the pocket watch on her hand.

Miere gaped in astonishment.

"So it is true. How did you get this?" She was lost for words.

"Doesn't matter, will this do?" Clara was becoming impatient.

"No, we still need enough rocket fuel to pull ourselves out of the gravity field of this asteroid."

"No need." Said the voice from the outside of the cell. Clara turned around to find John with a canister of rocket fuel.

"You have to leave, I figured that. I'm guessing your friend is in danger. Think of this as my last present for you, for I probably won't see you after this. I hope you can use your powers responsibly after you get to Preevos." Clara received the fuel from him and hugged him again and whispered, 'Thank you.'

"Oh, and this. You will probably need it once you get there." He smiled as he passed a rectangular box filled with their normal clothes and some food.

"I'll look out for you guys. Go now." John said. "Good luck and safe travels."

Both Miere and Clara hugged to thank him.

"Clara, can you get Henry please? I need to pack the rest of this into the bag." Miere said. Clara nodded and ran to his direction.

"So, it is her, isn't it?" Miere said as she closed the zipper on her bags.

"Yes. You have to take good care of her. The journey to the others will be hard and dangerous. Blackoff has taken complete control of Preevos and I am afraid it's worse than what she predicted."

"Thank you John, for everything. I will see you when I see you." Miere kiss John lightly on the cheek. John hugged back. As Miere left, John looked extremely sad. He also looked frightened.

"Good bye Miere, good bye Clara. I wish you all the best. Only death awaits me now." A tear slid down his face.

Miere met Clara and Henry in front of the completed spaceship.

The spaceship was made of dodgy scrap materials. Clara ignored questioning the safety of the spacecraft and strapped herself into a chair. After Miere did the final fiddling and wiring the watch in to the console, the rocket blasted off and headed for Preevos.

"Are you sure your program is accurate?" Henry timidly asked.

"Well, 66.66% sure." Miere steered the ship left and right to avoid the asteroids. Clara and Henry held on tightly to the seats, fearful of their life.

After a long bumpy trip, they finally started entering the atmosphere.

"Here's where it gets interesting. We have a 33.33% chance of getting blown up."

"BLOWN UP?!" Clara and Henry both glared at Miere.

"Yeah, the pressure might be too much for the ship to handle. Personally, I didn't think we would get this far, I thought we would just crash into a piece of asteroid and die in vacuum, never to be found again."

"What?!" Henry screamed.

"This is not the time for pessimism!" Clara exclaimed.

"Shh, I'm trying to drive." Miere pressed a sequence of buttons made up of pieces of makeshift LED light bulbs and grabbed onto the steering wheel made of a half broken dinner plate.

There was a bang and a piece of the steering wing fell apart. Miere let go of the steering wheel and the ship started going out of control. "Kaboom. We're done for guys. It is impossible for me to steer without the wings. Enjoy your last moments alive. At least we tried. A for effort right?" Miere smiled awkwardly. The three of them started panicking.

Clara suddenly had a flashback to what Theo said to her. 'It is said that this clock will always help you find safety.' Then John. 'Just like every legendary items, such as your pocket watch, it is psychically linked to you…'. Clara grabbed onto the watch and psychically delivered her message. 'Please help us get out of this alive and safe. The ship stopped rotating and started flying smoothly through the air.

"How… are you doing that?!" Miere exclaimed. Henry gasped.

"Shh, I'm trying to drive." Clara said with a cheeky smile, her eyes still closed and concentrating on the watch.

'Can you land us somewhere safe?' Clara pleaded to the watch with sincerity. The capsule landed with a thud. As soon as it landed, it fell apart into pieces. Miere and Henry cheered. Clara let go of the watch and sighed in relief.

"You never cease to amaze me." Miere said as she tightly hugged her. Henry joined the hug.

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**Back at Vlakos**

"199, get up." A cold voice snaked into John's ears. John spat the blood out of his mouth.

"Gav, it's me. John! Snap out of it! Please." John cried looking at the remnant of his best friend. After Gavin's meeting with the agents, he became ruthless and cold. Alas, it wasn't him. It was the earpiece which controlled him that made him become what he was now. The gas leak and the lockdown was intentionally created by Gavin, the idea sparked by Blackoff. When the real Gavin saw the damage, Gavin wobbled. He cried, realising what he had become. Then the agents called him again.

"John. I'm losing the battle. When I come back, you have to take me out before I harm anyone else." Gavin had said in tears the day he was summoned back to Preevos.

He disappeared through the days when John was training Clara. When he came back, he demanded to see her. When he realised they weren't there anymore, he realised John was helping them.

"You've been helping the traitors, 199. This means you're a traitor yourself." He punched John on his stomach. John struggled up and placed his fingers on his temples to take him out. However, as soon as he established contact, he was thrown to the closest wall.

"No psychic powers are allowed in Vlakos. You of all people should know that." He approached John as he laughed darkly. John swept Gavin's feet off-balance and quickly aimed the gun that was on his belt. He hesitated.

"You're weak. You can't kill your best friend." Gavin spat.

"The Gavin I knew is long gone." John fired the gun. Gavin dropped on the floor lifelessly. John closed his eyes. "I'm sorry Gav." He whispered deep in sadness. John slowly picked up a small microphone embedded on Gavin's clothing.

"Blackoff, I know you're listening. Listen to me. You've captured a Timelord. Goddess knows what you're doing. You've lost it, haven't you?! You didn't capture any old Timelord. You captured the last of the kind. The last Timelord who killed everyone else. The most dangerous Timelord. Heaven knows what he's going to do to you when he gets out. I hope you have enough sense in you to release him before it's too late. He's screaming and she hears it. She's coming. Oh, she's coming for you."

"Sorry John, I'm not that stupid. Why would I let go of the most precious asset we've had for years? With his biology, we'll be able to create a race even stronger and smarter than the Timelords. Oh the girl. She's a mere female human. When she comes, I'll kill her on spot. I'll make sure I'll do it in front of the Timelord." A sinister voice came from the mic. "Anyway, the end of the road for you." He teasingly sang.

Suddenly, John was engulfed in darkness. Someone had placed a bag over his head. He tried using his psychic powers to incapacitate the enemies but found that something was blocking his powers.

"Blackoff, it's all coming for you. The prophecy of the goddess. The devil will burn with the traveller where time doesn't run. Your death is close." John screamed as someone restrained him with handcuffs.

"Yours, my dear friend, is closer." There was a dark, sinister laugh. John felt a prick in his skin. He slowly fell into the dark abyss in his mind.


	7. Chapter 6: Back on Preevos

Clara, Miere and Henry were in the middle of the white, snow topped forest overlooking a frozen lake.

"Now, let's get changed first, then we burn these terrible uniforms." Henry said finding the pre-packed clothes from the rubble of a broken spacecraft.

Miere set up a tent using the broken capsule and the fabric she had brought with them. Henry roamed around looking for firewood. Clara was left with nothing to do so she created a fishing rod. She tied a string with a little makeshift hook, made a hole in the frozen lake and started fishing. She caught four big fish at the end and managed to have a pleasant dinner together with the gang and settled for a warm, comfortable sleep. Clara closed her eyes.

"Clara."

"Help…"

"Me…" It was the Doctor's struggling voice again.

She was ripped away from sleep once again. She looked up into the night sky. The two moons, red and blue, eerily but peacefully illuminated the snow around them. In the quiet night, she heard her heart madly pounding away, still shocked from the nightmare.

"Can't sleep?" A voice called out. Clara jumped.

"Could ask the same thing to you." Clara stared at Miere.

"I don't need sleep. Well, I can sleep, but it's not necessary."

"Why?"

"I am a human plus. I was born and raised in a lab. When I was growing up, they tested things on me. Things to make you stronger and smarter. It wasn't just me though, there were many other kids. But I was their prized possession. A healthy, smart and stable subject, yet did not need any sleep to function. One day, an accident happened while they were experimenting on me. I 'stopped working' by their standards. But in reality, I just learnt how to say no. They threw me in a dumpster along with the equipment. I thought I was going to die. But Henry and his parents found me and took me in as their family." Miere smiled.

"Henry and I became best friends. Henry was the best brother I could ask for. We attended the same college, I was doing engineering and he was doing medicine. After a talk we attended, we became very interested in the 'legend' of Preevos. According to the legend, there are four sacred items related to the peace orb that is said to be handed down upon four big families of Preevos. We started researching about the 'legend' together. One day, Henry looked down the wrong road and accidentally discovered a devastating document, which talked about the 'apocalypse'. It said that exactly a 1000 year after the war, the devil will rise as the face of an angel and destroy the world with its beliefs. Henry and I made a connection between the 'devil' and General Blackoff. Sceptical, we hacked into the military base and managed to find Blackoff's plans about 'cleansing the evil off Preevos', which was very similar to the prophecy of the legend. We started warning the public about the man, but obviously, Blackoff was not impressed with what we've done. We were arrested, and were given a life sentence in Vlakos." By the end, Miere's voice was filled with regret. "If only we stopped. But what do we know, we were just stupid college students seeking for attention."

"These four sacred items, what are they?" Clara asked. She had a gut feeling Miere was hiding something from her.

"It's the four items the Goddess was carrying when she stopped the war. You know, I've never seen one in real life until I saw the pocket watch. The four items are, the pocket watch, the ring, the book and the gauntlet.

"The ring? You mean this?" Clara took out the ring from her finger.

Miere dropped her jaw. "How…?" Henry returned just in time to see it as well. He dropped all of his firewood.

"Oh my goddess, that's the ring… that's _the_ ring." Henry excitedly jumped up and down, inwardly screaming in excitement.

"I got it from John. You know, the man who gave us the rocket fuel?" Clara handed it to Miere and she looked at it in disbelief and wonder. Miere snapped out of it.

"So, um anyway, continuing with my explanation, each of them contains a suspended dwarf star that apparently connects to the peace orb."

"And what does the peace orb do?"

"No idea." Miere shrugged. "Now, get some sleep, we need to cover a lot of ground tomorrow. I'll look out for any danger."

Clara tried to tell Miere about the nightmares, but stopped herself. How would she explain them to her and what could Miere do to stop it? Clara laid down again, and watched the stars instead. After a bit, the suns started inching up, painting the sky red. Even though she was at Preevos before she was sent to Vlakos, she didn't have a chance to see the daylight and the twin suns. It was absolutely stunning. Miere woke Henry up and Clara pretended to wake up.

"Jeez Clara, you look more terrible than yesterday." Henry commented. Miere stabbed his side with an elbow, giving him a death stare. "Sorry."

"s'alright." Clara replied, half yawning.

"Hope should be about 100km north of here." Miere said, looking at the sun and a map she had brought with her.

"Hope?" Clara raised her eyebrow.

"Yup, that's the name of the village. I know, very cheesy. It was named Hope because it was a place where the goddess came and gave hope to end the civil war. She apparently ended the war during the alignment of the twin moons. Moonlight symbolises peace in Preevos, so it's very fitting. We've missed the alignment festival by a few months, unfortunately." Henry explained.

"I was there." Clara almost whispered. They were going to the same place where she arrived in the TARDIS. The marketplace teeming with people flashed past her memory.

When the sun was setting, they arrived in Hope. However, it wasn't the happy, busy little town Clara once saw. It was deserted, void of any life. The broken remnants of the town laid there tragically, not making a sound.

"What happened here?" Henry asked.

"No idea, but I can guess it was something not good." Miere answered.

"Come on, we need to go get the TARDIS, my friend's ship." Clara whispered and ran to the place where the TARDIS once was. She stopped and kneeled to touch the blank square of dirt patch thinly covered with white snow. Little droplets of tear landed on the grass patch.

"No." Clara felt empty, her sense of security was now gone. Both the Doctor and the TARDIS was probably captured and she felt hopeless. She suddenly remembered the phone call with Blackoff. She called the TARDIS telephone but Blackoff was the one who had received it.

"Clara, we can look for your ship later. We really need to set camp before it becomes dark." Miere suggested after looking at the twin suns that were about to disappear into the mountains.

"Look, we can just sleep in one of these houses." Henry pointed it out. "They're empty."

They went inside one of the deserted houses and found stacks of canned fruits and tuna. They gladly had one each for supper and took the rest of them for later. Henry yielded the bed to Clara and slept on the floor. Miere kept watch for any signs of danger.

The next morning, it was snowing. Clara, for once, had a proper sleep. They gathered in the dining room to have canned fruit salad as breakfast. That's when it happened. Out of nowhere, people wearing Kevlar burst into the house. Clara managed to fight off about five of them with the skills John taught her. However, she was stopped when they shot something on her neck. She managed to fight two more before she collapsed on the ground.

When Clara woke up, she couldn't see anything. She felt groggy and dizzy from whatever she was under. She tried to move her arms and legs but realised they were tied to a chair. 'Great.' She thought.

A harsh light bulb turned on with a buzz. Clara squinted to see a silhouette of a person. Next to her were both Miere and Henry, tied up in a chair, who looked like they've woken up just like Clara.

"Who are you?" The figure asked.

"I should be asking that to you." Clara retorted groggily. They showed her a knife and placed it on Henry's neck.

"Tell us now. Are you one of Blackoff's operatives?"

"What?... No!" Clara said, scared of the knife dangerously close to Henry's veins.

"Please don't kill us. My name is Henry and these are my friends, Miere and Clara. We landed on Preevos today after breaking out of Vlakos!" Henry hysterically screamed.

"Sorry, did you say Clara? Clara Oswald?" The masked figured person hesitated. Clara nodded. He lowered the knife, unmasked himself and undid their restraints.

"I'm sorry, I had to check if you guys weren't Blackoff's operatives trying to bring the rebels down. I didn't know you were the Doctor's friend." The man said. "Welcome to the rebels HQ."

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**Somewhere on Preevos**

The Doctor flinched as a pulse shot through his veins. "Where is the peace orb?" A man screamed at him.

"Clara." The Doctor called out. "Help me. My impossible girl, I'm sorry." He breathed out shakily in pain.

The man gave him another shot of a vial of blue chemical.

"Tell me where it is."

"I'm from space! With two hearts and 27 brains…" he muttered. "The wind bites now, and the world is grey, and I am alone…" He whispered in pain.

"He must be delirious." The man said. "Agent, glad you could join us." He greeted a man with a firm handshake.

The agent shook his hand and slowly approached the Doctor, who was twisting in his restraints in pain. "So, this is the famed Timelord? So underwhelming to see him like this, I thought he was the oncoming storm? Look at him, so pathetic!" He laughed at the Doctor's weak body. He crouched close to the Doctor's ear. "You know Doctor, I met your dear friend once. Clara's a pretty little thing, isn't she? I made sure that she was in excruciating pain. You know, she still thinks you'll save her. 'Save me Doctor' she repeats over and over. Even in her sleep. You should have seen her eyes. So much optimism, always thinking that her shining knight in armour will save her from her suffering. Yet here you are, all tied up and delirious. How pathetic. I'm going to kill Clara the next time I see her. Squeeze the life out of her puny female human body. I'll make sure I film it so that you can see it. You'll be able to see it over and over in the big old head of yours." He said, as he mockingly poked the Doctor's temples.

Suddenly, a memory extractor that was connected to the Doctor's forehead short-circuited with a spark. The agent cried out in pain, unable to take his finger off the Doctor's temple.

"How dare you insult Clara like that." The Doctor growled. His eyes shined golden. "How dare you talk as if life wasn't important?" The agent clutched his head as he started having seizures.

The alarm started ringing, and the scientists ran in, all frozen at the sight. There was golden energy flowing from the agent's head to the Doctor's.

"What the hell is happening here?!" The lead scientist sprinted in.

"I don't know sir, I think it's using its psychic power to drain his mind." Another scientist hypothesised.

"Stop him. NOW!" He demanded, and the scientists started running all around the place trying to find something to stop the Timelord's fury.

Before the energy transfer was completed, the Doctor was stopped with an excruciating pain to his heart.

The Doctor looked down to see an electrode embedded on his right heart, pulsing out electricity to counteract his heart activity. The Doctor psychically let go of the agent's body, focusing more on his pain. The body fell on the ground with a thud.

"Oh that is excellent." The lead scientist exclaimed with a maniacal laugh. The Doctor hissed in pain as the man touched the long, silver electrode that was piercing his skin all the way down to his heart.

"Remember, Doctor. We control you now." The scientist said as he dug the electrode deeper into his heart.


	8. Chapter 7: Undercover

The rebels HQ was massive. Clara, Miere and Henry were told that this once was an underground tunnel under Hope's library. The HQ was furnished with computers on office desks. In one side of the wall, there was a gigantic TV screen.

"Wait a second, why am I on TV?" Clara asked pointing at the TV. A woman approached her. She extended a hand. "My name is Mary. Nice to meet you. I am the leader of the Rebels and also a friend of the Doctor's."

"The Doctor?! Where is he?" Clara yelled, frantically looking around for him.

"I'll tell you about him later. As for your first question, they've been using you to build Preeonians' hate against the humans." Mary said. She played a video of Clara.

"_I am Clara Oswald and I am human. I bombed the town square on 4:12pm 01 01 Preonian year 1000 and successfully assassinated the president and 78 other civilians. The main purpose of this was to show how inferior your species is to us humans. I am part of the rebels and a close friend to the Doctor. The underground rebels will strike again. There will be more blood bath."_

"Well, this was one of the first footage sent around the globe. Blackoff and his team has created many propagandas using your face to fuel the hate. After a few days, another video was spread across the globe." She played the second one.

_"I am Clara Oswald and I am now a prisoner at Vlakos. I surrender to President Blackoff." _There was a footage of her being beaten to the ground. Mary quickly turned it off. Clara stared at it horrified.

"Since when did they film that? I don't remember saying those words, especially on camera." Clara replied, disgusted at what the Blackoff party have done.

Mary brought a tablet-like device and zoomed in on the footage still near her ear.

"You wouldn't have remembered. This blue thing in your ear is a mind controlling device. It had been used in the civil war to uncover secrets from the other side from the prisoners of war. It was said that the Goddess had destroyed every single one of them, but someone, almost definitely the Blackoff party, has created one again."

"Which would be a big problem because it means Blackoff can control whomever he wants to." Henry added in shock.

"Correct. Fortunately, I believe it is still in the prototype stage, unfortunately, they are nearing completion. This leads your next question. When the president was murdered, Blackoff, who was the military general of the time, rose to power. Now, given his past actions, many people were very against this idea. While Blackoff was settling in his new position, a certain traveller, who went by the name, the Doctor, started leading an opposition party. The population split into two sides. People who supported Blackoff and people who supported the Doctor. At first, the Doctor convinced everyone the danger of Blackoff and his party, and managed to gain a lot of supporters. That was turned around when the video of you confessing the crimes were sent around the globe. When Blackoff started gaining the support of the Preeonians, the Doctor started losing. If you haven't realised, there are a lot more Preeonians than of humans in Preevos. At first, Blackoff's hate only extended to boycotting human holidays, products and activities, but then it progressed to them slowly kidnapping them and placing them in labour camps. They claimed that they provided jobs for human race there, but in truth, they were slaughterhouses." Mary stopped and looked away. A man who had been with them since they arrived here continued.

"The Doctor was always in the front line. He led the rebel soldiers, including me, into many of the labour camps and managed to sabotage them from inside out, saving the people from dying in Blackoff's hands. One day, our operatives found a medical facility doubled as a labour camp very close to Hope. The Doctor commanded what was supposed to be another everyday mission; to go in, find their weaknesses, bring the communication systems down and take them down. The Doctor and I managed to bring the communication systems down, and save the people in the camp. Last moment, the Doctor realised there was a hidden level just beneath the camp and told me to go with the rest of the group, because he'll join us later with these people. Trusting him, I did as I was told. When we went past the outside fences, the whole facility suddenly was in lockdown and we started getting attacked by the automatic laser gun drones. We lost contact with the Doctor and we had to come back without him. The next day, we went there to rescue him, but the whole place was destroyed by what looked like a bomb. There were nothing but rubbles. I'm sorry. We've declared him killed in action."

Clara listened carefully with sorrow. 'He's not dead.' She thought. She was in denial. She stood there shaking her head in disbelief. She came all this way and she couldn't even see him now that she was here.

The TV started playing.

"This is a broadcast to everyone in Preevos." A fanfare played.

There were five people tied to a chair, with a bag over their head. They were all wearing white overalls. "We've managed to capture five traitors who have been helping the rebels. They revealed the people underneath.

"John?!" Clara exclaimed. In the TV screen, John was sitting in the middle, wearing some sort of a contraption over his shaved head. His face was red and swollen from beatings.

"What's that thing on his head?" Henry asked.

"It's a Psychitrictor. It restricts psychic power." Mary replied with sorrow. "Clara, if you know him, look away. Please." Clara ignored the warning.

A man masked in black placed a red, wired collar around all five people. John never raised his head towards the camera, he sat there emotionlessly. Clara could see him controlling his breath. He was frightened. So was she. The black masked man pulled down a lever on the side of a wall.

The collar started glowing in red. Everyone on the chairs started convulsing violently, screaming in pain, including John. Blood started pouring out of their eyes, nostrils and ears. The blood went on to stain their white overalls, making it look even worse that it was. Then the convulsing stopped. Everyone's head dropped lifelessly, John's included.

Clara kneeled on the floor in shock. "No." She eyed on the screen.

Suddenly, John's bloodshot eyes opened as he struggled against the restraints.

"He survived?!" Henry exclaimed as they looked at it in horror.

The masked man took a gun out and aimed at his head. Before he could pull the trigger, Mary covered Clara's eyes and ears.

Clara, Miere and Henry sat there in tears. That was John, who had helped Clara become who she is now. That was John, who helped them escape. That was John, who had saved Miere from the peb box.

"Every week, they have a new batch of prisoners on the stage for execution. It makes the whole planet afraid. My husband was the first one to die like this." Mary looked away, sniffling.

"I'm.. sorry." Clara said. She didn't know what was worse, having to deal with John's death or having to know that this sort of thing happened every week.

"He has to be stopped. Blackoff and his party. This is terrible." Clara said trembling in anger.

A person equipped with soldiers' gear quietly interrupted Mary. "Ma'am." He saluted and whispered. "We have gotten a recent report from our operatives that they have spotted another medical camp about 500 km south west of Hope."

Mary nodded. "Send five operatives in. Get them to scout the area and contact the HQ ASAP. Have the soldiers on alert." Mary commanded. Clara stopped Mary.

"Mary, let us go with them." Clara, Miere and Henry stared into Mary's eyes.

"No." Mary said firmly. "You're not trained for this. Besides, everyone knows who you are because of the propaganda."

"You said the Doctor was taken by a medical facility. I won't be able to live without at least taking down what took the Doctor's and John's life. The Doctor was my best friend and so was John. The Doctor was always there when I needed help and I am obliged to continue whatever the Doctor was doing. And as the man said earlier, the Doctor was always fighting in the front. You say I'm not qualified for this, but you should know that while you guys were fighting this war, I was in an unbreakable prison, being trained by the former military general, who was regarded as one of the best fighters of his time. He died in Blackoff's hands and I need to make sure I venge his death. I also managed to break out of the said unbreakable prison with two of my friends and managed to take down half of your soldiers when you ambushed me, some soldiers under whatever sedative they gave me. Oh, and I should mention that my friends walked in and out of Vlakos and built a spaceship from scratch without ever being spotted for five years? Mary, let me do this for the sake of the Doctor and John." Clara said in a low voice. Mary took out her communicator.

"Captain, make it eight. I have three volunteers in front of me." Mary turned around.

"You better make it out of there alive with everyone else. I've already lost my five year old son, my husband and the Doctor. I don't want any more casualties. Understood?"

"Understood." Clara nodded.

Mary gave her a weak smile. They were led to the equipment room. The room was white and there were weapons and gadgets neatly stacked against the wall. A man in a military uniform stood there waiting for them to enter.

"Right, operatives, your role in this mission will be to scout the area, map out the facility, find their strengths and weaknesses and most of all, be our eyes and ears. You will be equipped with a communicator embedded underneath your skin. When your mission is completed, the tracker will buzz underneath your skin, which will signify that we are coming to get you out. We can't afford to give you anything external because they will take away everything you have once you get there. From what we have seen so far, this is not your everyday labour camp. This facility is used only for medical and weapons testing. You will board a truck that the rebels have intercepted that will take you to a transporter in Hope with the rest of the 'intake' being taken into the facility. I wish you all good luck." A man in a military uniform said.

Clara looked at Miere after hearing 'medical testing'. Sure enough, she saw the shadow of fear casted on her face. Clara had never seen Miere this frightened. "Hey. You don't need to if you don't want to." Clara said, trying to calm her down.

"I have to. I have to take vengeance for what they did to John." She clenched her fist in anger, a tear dropping from her face. Clara nodded. Before they boarded the truck that led them to the transporter, a guy stopped Clara and handed her a white morsel.

"You'll need this. It's a perception filter that makes you unrecognisable to the public eye." Clara swallowed it and shivered at its bitter taste.

They were now in the truck, silently being led to where the transporter was. No one talked. They all tried to look brave on the outside but Clara could see the fear looming inside the space. When they arrived, they were roughly pushed into the transporter by the Preeonian soldiers. Clara's heart was beating so fast. Henry, who was silent the whole trip was now hugging Miere, both visibly trembling from fear. Clara wanted to do something to ease their fear, but she realised that she was in the same position as well. The environment in the transporter reminded her of the time she was in one of these going to Vlakos. She realised that just as she was free from a prison, she was going into another one. She shook away the terrible memory.

The transporter landed with a thud and they were brought into the facility. The soldiers forced them to strip and they checked for any valuables and weapons they might be hiding. Luckily, Clara's watch and the ring was undetected by the soldiers. They were forced to wear the thinly worn out grey uniforms and were split into different sectors. Luckily, Clara was in the same 'sector' as Henry and Miere. She was roughly pushed into the medical examination room by a soldier.

In the examination room, they conducted various tests on her, recorded the results and they injected her with a thick greed liquid through the connector.

"What is that?" Clara asked, flinching away. She watched as the green liquid disappeared into her body.

"It's a vaccination so that we can prevent any diseases from going around." The person said as he placed a green wristband on her wrist. But Clara knew he was lying straight through his purple eyes.

When the soldiers were leading her and other people into the sleeping quarters, she realised that she started feeling tired and sluggish.

The sleeping quarters were not very much in a shape of a room, it was long shelves where people slept uncomfortably close to each other. 'At least it's not summer.' She thought. The room was painfully cold. She reunited with Miere and Henry and plotted what they are going to do at night. At night, Henry silently woke her up. Clara felt noticeably stiffer.

"Where's Miere?" She drowsily asked.

"Not here. She's been hiding her panic attacks from you. She doesn't want you to worry about her."

"Let me go talk to her." Clara stood up worriedly.

Henry stopped her. "No. Just give her time. Trust me. She'll be okay. Let's just do what Mary asked us to do." Clara momentarily turned around worrying about Miere but realised that as soon as they figure out the weakness of this place, the faster they'll be out of there. She joined Henry as they started walking around the cold corridors.

As Clara and Henry snuck around, they reported her findings to the HQ and figured out the rough layout of the inside of facility. Clara tripped over nothing.

"Are you okay?"

"m'Fine. I think it's just something they gave me." Clare stumbled again. Henry quickly caught her before she fell onto the ground.

"Clara, you're really not yourself. Go back to the sleeping quarters. I can explore the rest myself, okay?" Clara nodded and did as she was told.

Clara found a narrow empty space to sleep and closed her eyes.

"Clara. You're so close. Help me." It was the Doctor's haunting voice again. She woke up once again drenched in sweat.

"Clara, are you okay?" Henry had returned next to her.

"I'm alright, nightmares. What about Miere?" She whispered, realising the others were still sleeping.

"I don't know, haven't seen her since I came back." Henry shrugged. Clara looked at Henry with worrying eyes.

When the soldiers woke everyone up by banging on the steel doors, Clara was relieved that the stiffness had mostly gone away.

"Prisoners with a green wristband, step forward."

"Green, that's me. What about you?" She whispered to Henry. He shook his head.

"Mine's blue." He lifted his wrist.

Suddenly a rough hand pulled Clara forward. "I said green wristband forward!" The soldier yelled into her ears. He smacked her face and Clara grabbed onto her cheek in pain.

"Sorry." She muttered, rubbing her cheeks. She knew nothing good would be brought onto her if she spoke out of place.

They were led into the examination room again. After another round of tests, they gave her another dose of the same liquid. Clara decided not to question what it was.

When she went back to the sleeping quarters, more sluggishly than last time, the soldiers took them outside to the cold, snowy grounds and forced them to jog around in a line.

"Miere!" Clara caught up to the familiar brunette. Miere looked terrible. She had bags underneath her eyes and barely struggling to jog. Henry was helping her move along, so that the soldiers didn't spot them. "Are you okay?" Clara asked.

Suddenly, she was interrupted when someone at the end of the line fell over and couldn't get back up. Clara stopped, fighting against the line to get to her. Before she could reach her, the soldiers placed a peb box on her head and within seconds, the blue electric charge killed her. Everyone jogged past briskly fearing they might be next.

"No!" Clara screamed and ran up to the body. The soldiers stopped her, hitting her with a baton. Clara easily took down five of them using her skills learnt from John.

"Clara, stop! You're killing them!" Henry shouted.

"No, they're asleep, they'll wake up in a few hours." She smiled sorrowfully. A useful skill she had learnt from John, who was now dead. If it wasn't for John's wish, she would have killed them. She had the skills to, and it would be easier than incapacitating them. But she was doing this in the name of John and the Doctor who would never have harmed more than they had to.

The alarms blared and more soldiers joined to take down Clara. She continuously fought off waves and waves of the soldiers coming at her, which other people looked in awe. After a while, twenty to thirty soldiers surrounded her at gunpoint. She realised that not even the force field from the ring was going to be enough to hold the damage, so she kneeled down on the muddy ground and put her hands up to signify defeat. A soldier came up to her, cuffed her hands and roughly placed it the square blue machine on her head. She closed her eyes tightly and breathed sharply in and out preparing for what was going to come. She felt the pulse through her body and she fell face first onto the mud in agonising pain. The pulse burned and froze over her body. Every muscle and joint felt like twisting in the wrong direction and it was as if someone had broken every single bones in her body.

'Remember your training.' Her inner voice reminded herself in the midst of the pain. She controlled her breathing and psychically stopped the pulse from poisoning her body. She pushed herself off the ground shakily on all her fours. The soldier walked up and cocked a gun on her head. Clara looked at him pleadingly and then closed her eyes.

"STOP!" A voice screamed. "I need her." Clara felt the soldier lowering his gun with a disappointed growl. Clara didn't open her eyes but heard a slow clap. "Good job, whoever you are." Clara slowly opened her eyes. The man crouched down and roughly lifted her chin.

"I put you in the wrong sector. I must admit, I didn't think a human could do… well… this. This was when you were under the influence of our poison. Imagine what you could do in your full capacity." Clara refused to look at the man's eyes, but from the corner of her eye, she saw a lab coat. The man placed his square machine on her head. Unlike the others', it was purple.

"Sweet dreams." He blew a kiss to Clara. She collapsed onto the ground so suddenly as if someone switched her off.

"No! Cl…" She heard Miere scream before Henry covered her mouth.

Clara woke up in the cold, grey cells again. Across the small cell, she saw a very thin, pale person lying on the cold floor. It was the Doctor.

"Doctor! Can you hear me?" Clara was instantly next to him.

"C..l..aa..ra..?" He said with a slurred voice. One of his eyes opened halfway and closed again.

"Oh god, what have they done to you?" She was choking in her tears. There was a long rod stabbed through his torso. The blood was lazily oozing out, and the Doctor was shivering in pain. The Doctor now opened both of his eyes slowly.

"Don't be here… Clara… Wake up… It's dangerous here…." The Doctor struggled with his words and fell asleep again.

"What do you mean? Where is this place?" A bright light shined on her face, which made her squint.

She opened her eyes. She was on an operating table in a bright, white room.

"What are you? Your DNA from your scan says that you are human plus, yet your blood results state that you're 100% human. There's no way any pure blood human is left in the universe, they've all gone. Filthy humans and their breeding problems. Your blood also screams background radiation. Where could you have been for your blood to have mutated like this?"

Clara stared at him with the most hostile glare she could make. The man gave her a condescending laughter.

"You also think you're very clever with your perception filter. I don't know who you are now, but we will know soon. You must be someone important to be hiding your identity like this." A man wearing a green surgical mask said. She tried to run away, but the restraints prevented her from doing so. They forcefully fed her a dark green morsel. She spat it out and spluttered in its sour taste and its pungent aroma.

"There are always another ways if you don't want to co-operate." A sinister man's voice whispered.

They started pushing a tube through her nose through to her stomach. Clara gaged and tried to push it away. Her throat started burning. She painfully gasped for air. A dark green fluid slowly inched inside her body. As soon as the liquid made contact with her stomach, Clara felt the cold liquid uncomfortably settling inside her. The man left and hours ticked by.

When the man walked in for the second time, he laughed excitedly. "Well, well, well. Who would have known Clara Oswald was roaming around this place? I thought it was Christmas. Clara Oswald, the famed outlaw at our disposal? I am going to make you my pawn. My super soldier. Sleep well. I'll see you soon. I have lots planned for you." He blew a disgusting kiss.

Something was placed on her head again and she fell asleep.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Doctor." A teasing voice could be heard from the distance. He slowly opened his eyes with a groan as a blurry figure came into focus. "Hello Doctor, how are you doing? I've turned the memory extractor off for a bit because I wanted you to see this." The man left the room and came back with someone sitting lifelessly on a wheelchair.

"Clara." He exclaimed. His impossible girl was the one sitting on a wheelchair as pale as a sheet of paper. He would have thought she was dead if it wasn't for her chest slowly rising up and down. "What have you done to her?!" He exploded with rage. The man pressed a button on his remote and a pulse sparked through his now-not functioning right heart. He spluttered in pain once again.

"Calm down Doctor, I haven't done anything to her yet, she's just recovering from a blow of a peb box. You have an impressive friend, Doctor. She excels in the usage of both her mental and her physical powers. How wonderful would it be if we used her to lead our side to glory? Death to all humans by a pure human herself. Her blood is full of background radiation. She's a human with time abnormalities. I'm guessing she's been travelling with you a lot." He snickered. "And we have both of you here. How ridiculously wonderful."

The Doctor's rage died down and fear crept up to him. All the terrible things they did to him, they were going to do to Clara. The Doctor desperately pleaded to his captors.

"Please, you can do anything with me. But please let Clara go. She's of no use to you, I swear."


	9. Chapter 8: The Great Escape

When Clara woke up, she found herself in the middle of a pitch black room. She tried to move but realised her feet were tightly chained on the floor. She tried to pull it off with her hands, which were free, but the locks didn't budge. Clara grasped her head trying to steady herself. In front of her was a gun and a target board a few meters away from her. A man was standing next to her grinning evilly.

"Hello, my super soldier." He gave her a cheesy smile. She looked at him in disgust. He continued. "Sorry… about the chain. Think of this as a trust exercise, okay? If you behave, I promise I'll take them off. If you don't, you'll be punished severely."

"Who are you?" Clara growled.

"I am your saviour. I saved you this morning from getting executed by the soldiers. I saw your skills, which I would love to learn about it afterwards. Never seen a fighter as fine as you. Although, that is expected from the public enemy number 1." He clapped. "Right. Your first trust exercise. I want you to fire this gun at the target." He said. Clara took it and fired it at him. The bullet reflected against his skin.

"Sorry, force field. I knew you would do this, so I prepared." A surge of electricity zapped her through her chains. She yelped in pain.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Why would I let the two greatest assets go? Besides, I can control both of you whenever I want to." He gave a twisted smile. "Example 1." The door opened.

A team of scientist walked into the Doctor's room. The Doctor weakly fought against the restraints hen shortly after gave up in defeat. Clara was captured and he could do nothing to save her. He couldn't even bargain for his life. Then again, he couldn't save her for the last few months in Vlakos. He truly was useless. A scientist marked a line through his bare stomach with a permanent marker.

"Oh." The Doctor looked at the line knowing exactly what it was for. They were going to open him up.

"We've developed a new poison and we needed a strong subject to test it on." The scientist said as the scalpel divided his skin in half. The Doctor squirmed in his place. They opened his torso up, where they could see the organs laying in their rightful place.

The Doctor breathed in and out, trying not to think about what they were going to do.

They brought a little rod, which sprayed a substance all over his exposed organs. The Doctor felt like his insides were painfully solidifying into a dry rock.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The man held up a bracelet in front of Clara. "I think you remember what these are, don't you? Oh, the good times in Vlakos. Disobey me one more time, and I will put them on you." They were the pain bracelet she was forced to wear at Vlakos.

Fearing the bracelet, Clara slowly lifted the gun up and shot the target. She fell backwards from the recoil it gave. She was shocked to see the target board disintegrate into nothing but ashes. She saw him jotting things down.

"Good." The assistants brought another target in. Clara shot them as they continuously brought them in. The targets ranged from small boxes to walls and even furniture.

Clara's eyes widened as she saw the next targets.

On the wall, there were rows of prisoners standing there nervously, blindfolded.

"Your mission is to take them out." The man said, grinning twistedly.

Clara shook her head. "No." she said firmly and dropped the gun.

"You will do as you are told." He gave her a warning tone.

"No. I will not." Clara glared at him in return. He placed the pain bracelet on her wrist and turned it on.

Clara clenched her fist, trying to stop the burning pain. "NO!" She yelled. She kicked the gun into a far corner. The man sighed. "In desperate measures…" The man injected a blue liquid into her arm. "Here's your motivation."

Clara blinked very hard and sat down on the floor. The effects from the blue liquid instantly hit her, making her dizzy and nauseous. The man transformed into the Doctor. Not the magician, he was the mad man with a bowtie.

"Clara?" His voice echoed.

"Doctor?" She slurred.

The Doctor walked up to her and touched her face.

"Oh my impossible girl. What have they done to you?"

"Where are you? I keep having nightmares about you. Are you dead?" She whispered.

"Doesn't matter. I'm here now." He gave a smile. It was off, but it was still a smile. Clara smiled back.

Clara gave an empty laugh. "When can we go travelling?" Her world was spinning around and she just felt so happy.

"As soon as possible." He replied.

"How soon?"

"As soon as you shoot that man." He said nonchalantly as he handed her the gun. It seemed so easy. She felt like something was off, but it was so tempting. One pull of the trigger and he would be dead. She desperately wanted to go back to the TARDIS. Clara placed her hand on the trigger.

"Clara, stop." A clear, firm, angry voice called out to her.

"Who are you?" She saw a blurry figure standing on the other side.

"I'm your best friend. Not the imposter you're seeing over there." The magician doctor appeared as a blurry figure. "Remember, that version of me died. He died in Trenzalore. Clara, be smart. Think critically, not emotionally."

"Doc…tor?" Clara looked at both of the 'Doctors'.

"How are you doing that?" The 'fake' Doctor replied.

"Get out of my friend's head. You can torture me as much as you like. But you don't have the right to torture her. She is under my protection. No matter what you do to both of us, you will never harm my best friend." Clara saw the dark side of the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm. Suddenly, the alarms started blaring. The 'fake' Doctor left the room without a word. The restraints clicked open.

"Clara, listen to me. Run. The rebels are coming. They won't be able to find where we are so take the stairs and get out of this place. You have to escape before this place locks down. Please don't try to find me. Promise me that."

"Why not?" Clara whimpering, shocked.

"Because you won't have time." He said. She heard the distant alarms blaring. "Good bye Clara." The image of the Doctor faded away.

Her chains were undone. Clara staggered to the door. The floor felt like it was moving and her legs felt like jelly. She blinked hard and concentrated on walking properly. She felt like someone was watching her struggle. She pushed the door and it opened with a creak. 'I have to get the Doctor' she thought. There was a sign that pointed to the exit. She hesitated. She probably just had to go the other way to see the Doctor again. 'No, there's no time, go to the exit', the angry, critical voice in her mind said. She started dragging herself upstairs. Step after step, struggle after struggle. She finally managed to reach the ground floor with a few stumbles. The stairs locked itself as soon as she got out. The ground floor was abandoned. She limped towards the exit and reached the outside fence. She grabbed onto the wire mesh to calm her head down and catch her breath. Walking was so hard.

"Stop." A cold voice commanded. Clara turned around to see a gun aimed at a little boy holding a Teddy bear. The boy was in tears. She recognised the man to be the one who were forcing her to shoot the gun.

"Come inside with me or I shoot the kid. Is this how you're going to thank your saviour?" He threatened. Clara took a step closer. The man cocked the gun and dug the gunpoint into the child. "Uh, uh. No more steps."

Clara gulped. Suddenly, she realised something and then smiled. Her ring. She quickly grabbed the boy from his grasp and hugged him tightly. The gun fired but when it hit Clara's head, the bullet crumpled and fell on the ground.

"Sorry. You're not the only one with a force field." She smirked.

Clara started running with the boy in her arms.

"Get her!" The man screamed.

The world was spinning around her but she continued running, no matter what. She saw a hill covered in trees and snow, illuminated by the twin moons. The soldiers started chasing them, opening fire. She started climbing the hill, carrying the boy, listening to the pattering of the bullets behind her. Her head was madly spinning around, but it was not the time to care about such things. When she reached the top of the hill, she saw the line of people who were being ushered into the last few rebel trucks. Clara realised that if she went straight downhill to join them, the soldiers would follow her and she'll be putting the people there into danger. Clara stopped.

"Hey, what's your name?" She asked crouching down to his eye level.

"Oliver." He answered sniffling. His nose was red from crying and how cold it was.

"Right. Oliver, don't be scared. Can you see the truck over there?" Oliver nodded. Clara took off her ring and placed it in his fingers. "I want you to hold your teddy tightly in this hand and run to that truck. Okay?"

Oliver nodded. "What about you?" He asked.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Now, run!" Clara said as she pointed at the truck.

Oliver hesitantly started running downhill. Clara turned around as she heard a bullet whistling past her ear.

"There she is!" The soldiers screamed.

The armed soldiers were fast approaching from far back. Suddenly, she felt a burning sensation in her stomach. Blood started oozing out from the wound. She couldn't really feel the pain as she was running on adrenaline. She ran the other direction to the trucks, as fast as she could before her adrenaline ran out. Blood dripped from her abdomen to the cold, white snow, making a trail. When she didn't have the energy to run, she staggered and softly collapsed onto the snow. With her remaining energy, she weakly turned herself over to face the sky. She stared at the purple night sky littered with twinkling stars. 'How beautiful.' She shakily breathed out. Clara slowly closed her eyes remembering the good times she had with the Doctor. Before her tear could reach the ground, it turned into ice.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"I'm sorry sir. We've lost her." The soldier kneeled down in regret.

"What do you mean you've lost her?!" Blackoff's voice boomed furiously. "You do realise you found the traveller and lost her all in the same day?!" He banged the table in anger.

"I'm sorry sir, we didn't think…" The soldier tried to retort.

"Yes, you didn't think because YOU DON'T HAVE A BRAIN!" Blackoff screamed. "Bring every personnel who were in charge of that medical facility." He said to his assistant. The assistant silently nodded and more people came in, head hung low in shame.

"Everyone who was responsible for the medical facility. You are hereby fired from your position." Blackoff slammed the door and locked it. "Incinerate them. All of them. They are useless."

As he walked away, he heard their screams beyond the locked door. Hearing the screams, the ends of his lips slightly twitched up.

He saw a scientist walking down a corridor. He held him by the collar. "Have you found the genetic codes for the Timelord yet?"

"N..nnno sir, but we're working on it." His lips trembled in pure fear. "It's going to take almost 6 months to figure out a strand of his DNA."

"You have a month. Do whatever you can, pulverise him, torture him, anything that works to break the Timelord. If you don't have the results by te next month, I'll find you again and you'll end up like the rest of your crew. Dust and ashes. Understood?" He screamed in the feeble scientist's ear. The feeble scientist madly nodded, so hard that his glasses fell off his nose. "Yyy…eesss. Sir."


	10. Chapter 9: The Doctor's Story

**Infirmary room- Tardis, present day**

Still wearing the Spari mind helmet, Clara was sound asleep.

The Doctor sat next to the lifeless Clara, monitoring her every heartbeat. Her lips twitched ever so slightly from now and then, but there was no sign of her waking up.

"We should never have gone to Preevos. I'm sorry, it was my selfishness. Stupid twin Gallifrey. I should have known. Anything associated with Gallifrey or Timelords is bad luck." The Doctor said, gently squeezing her hand. Suddenly, he let go of her hand in shock. He examined the tips of Clara's fingers and toes. It was pale blue and was icy cold. Clara's facial features were slowly losing colour and her steady heartbeat was gradually decreasing.

"No, no, no. Why is this happening?" The Doctor started panicking. He opened every single cabinet and tried to find anything to stop it.

"Nothing!" He yelled. "There's nothing!" He sat beside the bed again and squeezed her hand tightly.

"Stay with me Clara, stay with me, please." He pleaded. Clara's heart flat lined.

"No!" The Doctor yelled with tearful eyes. "I can't lose you now, after all we've been through. Clara, Clara! Cl…" He paused. There was a way to stop this. And he was going to regret it.

"There must be a very big gap in Clara's hidden memories. Maybe a coma… or a near death experience. That's why the Spari helmet short circuited. Because it needs a continuous source of memories to uncover or it kills the good memories. I have to go in there. Fill the gap with another memory." He sighed. "My memories of Preevos." He brushed a strand of hair out of Clara's paling face. "I'm coming Clara."

He found another set of the helmet and connected to Clara's helmet. The Doctor took a very big breath and placed it on his head. There was a buzz that grew louder in pitch, and then it stopped. He breathed out in relief. "That wasn't that…" There was a head splitting headache. He blacked out, then fell through to a cold dirt floor. "… bad." The Doctor turned to a source of a gasping sound.

Clara was on the floor gasping for breath.

"Clara!" He shook Clara's shoulders, trying to wake her up from whatever she was remembering. After a painful minute of silence, Clara opened her eyes, coughing.

"Doctor?" Clara asked confusedly. "But… I just died. I was bleeding. I was shot by a soldier. I died thinking of you. Our adventures on the TARDIS." She stumbled up. "Where am I? Is this heaven?"

"This is the void between your mind and mine. Clara, whatever you were remembering, you didn't die then. You're still alive. Your heart is still beating strong." He said as he gently placed her hands on her chest. "We're just going through your hidden memories. You're still alive and in the TARDIS infirmary room, safe."

Clara closed her eyes momentarily and then opened them again. "I remember now… but why are you here? If these are my memories, why are you inside my head? Hey! this is rude." Clara's face flashed of annoyance.

"No… Clara we don't have time to banter again. I need to pull my memory out before it starts consuming all your good memories." He said as he closed his eyes and placed his fingers on his temples.

"Consume my what?!" She crossed her arms angrily. "Doctor… you haven't told me about this. And what do you mean you have to pull your memory out? You know, I've been seeing you, and other people's memories. You were being tortured and I watched you as…" The Doctor placed his fingers on her lips.

"Don't say another word. Please." The fear and desperation crawled across his face. Clara's eyes widened.

"No, you didn't?!" She exclaimed in disbelief. "Please don't tell me you did."

The Doctor looked away. "I'm afraid I did." He continued with fear in his eyes.

"I erased my memories just like you did with yours. I wasn't going to mention that, but I did. But it's harder to hide or wipe memories of your brains if you are a Timelord. It never works properly. I still remember snippets of time, just like short videos or images and stills. But there must have been something even I wanted to forget." The Doctor held Clara's hand and looked her right into her eyes.

"Clara, I'm scared. I lived through the memories of the Time War. What could be worse than that for me to have deleted them off my memories?"

The walls nearby started crumbling down.

The Doctor continued with urgency in his voice. "Clara, we don't have enough time. For all the memories I'm going to show you, I'm sorry. Whatever I've done, I've probably done with a reason. The reason why I have to replace your memory with mine is because whatever happened to you, it must have been serious. You must not have woken up for quite a long time. If I don't feed the helmets with continuous memories of the past, the gaps in your mind will collapse and consume all your other memories, both the hidden and the known memories, like a black hole." He gently crouched down, and placed Clara's hands on the sides of his head. He closed the eyes and concentrated.

A bright, white light consumed them.

**Preevos in the past **

_"Come to the police station in two weeks and there will be transportation arranged to take you there." Sargent Bennett gave him a reassuring smile, and handed a piece of paper with the appointment date and time. The Doctor took it and placed it in his pocket. 'No need. I can do it myself.' He said to himself._

The Doctor quickly headed back to the TARDIS. He plotted the points in and pulled the lever. The TARDIS whirred into life but it failed to dematerialise.

"What's wrong with you, old girl, Eh?" He tried again, but only created a spark flying off from the console. He ran over to the monitor and scanned the readings.

"Magnetised to Preevos?!" He read off the screen. He was annoyed. He paced around the console room. Someone or something was not letting him leave the planet. He had to think of another way to rescue Clara. He left the TARDIS with a bang. He'll deal with Clara later, there was something more pressing that had to be dealt with. He repeated to himself. 'She'll be fine.'

The town was snowing again. The Doctor arrived in front of a cosy little house decorated in LED lights. He pressed the doorbell and heard a jingle echo inside their house.

"Who is it?" The door shortly opened. Mary stood there in red woollen jumper and Oliver held onto Mary's leg, clutching onto the teddy bear with his other hand.

"Good evening. I need to talk to you." He said, as he gave a mad smile.

"Doctor? Come in. It's cold out there." She opened the door for him to come in.

"Tea?" She offered, making herself one as well.

"Thanks." The Doctor said receiving a steaming hot cup of tea. Their living room was quite small but cosy. There was a fluffy rug and a sofa was surrounding a small coffee table. On one end, there was a small fireplace with a fire lazily flickering, providing a burning pine smell with an occasional crackle. The walls were decorated with family pictures, mainly Oliver. The Doctor sipped a little bit of tea as he was looking around. Mary sat down across him.

"It's local fruit tea. Not sure if people out of this town like it or not."

"It's lovely. Thank you." He sipped it again. He could smell the berry aroma from the tea.

"So, what did you need to talk about?" She placed the mug down on the coffee table.

"We need to talk about Blackoff."

Mary's face changed.

"Oliver, let's get you into bed." She said, as she lifted him up.

"Aww, but it's not bedtime yet." Oliver argued, but looked defeated when Mary gave 'the look.'

Mary tucked Oliver in and came back to the living room.

"So Blackoff." The Doctor continued. "He's the president."

"What?! Oh. Because… because… yeah." Mary looked at the ground in sorrow. "Wait, speaking of the incident, why were you a suspect? I had to stand as a witness. I hope you're not anyone dangerous…" She asked.

"Me? Dangerous? No.. no. I may be mad, but I'm not dangerous. No…. far from it. Anyway, I was a suspect because my friend was framed. I was with her when she was arrested. She wasn't the one who did it. I think you know who it was."

"Blackoff. Well, it's a hunch." Mary looked out the window.

"A hunch that's probably correct. Now, you have to listen carefully to what I say. You have to believe me because every word I am going to say will be the truth." The Doctor said.

He explained to Mary from the beginning. He explained he was a time traveller, and the story of how Clara and he arrived at Preevos. He told her how much he knew about Blackoff, and he wanted Mary and her husband to help stop it.

Mary nodded.

"I'll help you with your crusade. If Blackoff is targeting humans, no one in my family's safe."

The Doctor nodded to thank her.

"By the way, do you have a Spari crystal by any chance?" Mary shook her head confused.

"No? Should I?"

"Oh, don't worry. I'm trying to build a teleporter to teleport my friend from Vlakos… or whatever that place was. Well, thank you for the tea. I must be off." The Doctor gave Mary a smile and headed for the door.

"Oh, Doctor, if you don't have anywhere to stay, you're welcome to stay in our house." The Doctor gave her an ecstatic grin.

"Thank you. That would be very nice. Give me a moment, I'll be back with my ship."

He ran to the TARDIS and parked her on the attic of Mary's house. "Oh, moving around Preevos is fine, but why can't you leave?! It's just a stupid asteroid belt nearby! It's closer than the trip to the moon!" He yelled to the machine.

The next day, the Doctor managed to call Vlakos on a secure line.

"Hello?" He saw a middle aged man on screen.

"You've called Vlakos correction facility. I'm Gavin, the warden of Vlakos. How can I help you?"

"Ah, just the person to talk to." He showed the screen the psychic paper. "I would like to talk to Clara Oswald please."

"Another agent? Why the hell is everyone so interested in her? Sure, we will get her."

The Doctor tapped the table impatiently. Why were others so interested in her? The screen changed. The Doctor saw a shadowy figure on the screen.

"Clara?" He asked. There was no response. The screen connected momentarily to show Clara all bruised up and in pain. "Oh my god." The Doctor covered his mouth in shock. The connection suddenly ended. "No, Clara!" He tapped the screen desperately.

He ran. He ran to the closest mountain. He came across a cliff overlooking a frozen lake. He sat there and screamed. He was so angry, guilty and sad. That was his best friend in pain. That whole day, he made a teleporter on the mountain. When he left it unattended for a moment, it was all in ruins. On a broken piece, there was a note. "I will never let you meet her." The Doctor angrily kicked it off the cliff. Whilst trudging back to Mary's house he was drawn into a big library. He entered it, trying to calm himself down. He saw a dusty old book sitting on a corner of a shelf. It was bound with leather, yet it was falling apart. He gently picked it up.

"The legend of Preevos." He silently read out loud.

"The truth will reveal itself to the ones who seek them." The book said in cursive writing. The Doctor paused. "Nope. Not getting it." He shook his head. He flicked through to see nothing. All of the pages were old, yet blank.

"It's an intriguing book, don't you think?" The Doctor turned around to face an old woman. She gently grabbed it off the Doctor's hands.

"There's nothing interesting about this book, it's blank." He replied.

"Yes, but don't you feel something? Something drawing you into the book?" She flicked through the books with a mysterious smile.

"What does it mean? What is the legend of Preevos?" He asked.

"Come, I'll show you more." She gave him another eerie smile. She led him down a secret corridor hidden behind a large, golden tapestry. They passed corridors and corridors of a maze like underground tunnel, passing many rooms the size of an empty warehouse.

"What is this place? It's massive. You could fit a whole ground population in here." He asked in awe. His voiced echoed through the vast emptiness.

"The Eden of peace. The five families built these tunnels to protect the innocent from the apocalypse. A safe-haven from the devil. There are facilities here ready to become a hospital, homes for hundreds of people and even an artificial farm able to sustain everyone. The answers to your questions are in this book." She handed the book to him. Except it didn't look like the book he was reading before. The book was bound with golden rings and the cover had a gold and silvery touch to it.

"'The Legend of Preevos'. Again? Was this the book I was reading?" The Doctor questioned.

"As it said, 'The truth will reveal itself to the ones who seek them'. You're seeking the truth. And they've revealed it."

He soniced the book. "Oh that's clever. Low level psychic force field. Mentally linked with people who want to read it. Looks like a useless book from the outside to prevent dangerous people from knowing the truth." He glanced at the book. "Can I take this home?"

"Of course." He took the book and went back to the library.

He sat on the corner of the library and started reading the book. Most of the contents were fancy jargons and useless and pointless stories about seeing the Goddess. There was a mention of an apocalypse.

_From the darkness the Traveller will rise and the devil will pay the price.  
>It will burn with the traveller where time doesn't run.<br>_ He took out a scribbling pad and wrote these words down.

"'The Traveller. Interesting, don't you think?" The librarian interrupted the Doctor. "The folk lore says that the Traveller was also called the healer. Apparently this traveller is from a different planet. A traveller from another time. A planet far away, now lost."

The Doctor looked at her in shock. "That sounds awfully familiar." He almost whispered.

"Now, I don't know if you know such a person, but maybe you might be connected to this lore?" She smiled. "It is said that only the Traveller can stop the coming apocalypse. The apocalypse against the devil."

He took the book and ran back to Mary's house.

"I'm back, Mary, I have something to tell…" the small cosy house was no more. The books scattered everywhere, the signs of struggle and the furniture were organised into chaos. The Doctor traced his hands along the dried blood marks on the walls and scratches on the varnished floor. Mary was sitting on the sofa, clutching onto a family photo, crying.

"…you" He dropped the book.

"What happened?" He asked, looking around in shock.

"They took them. Blackoff took them." She sniffled. "My husband… and Oliver…"

The Doctor closed his eyes in disappointment, sadness and guilt. Then, he opened them with fury.

"Mary, whatever happens, I'll find them, okay? I promise. We'll find them and I'll make sure Blackoff pays for this." Mary nodded as she sniffled.

Someone burst into the house. "Sir, there's an emergency!" There was a young man in a police uniform. No, he'd seen him before…

"Sargent Bennett, you're too late." She looked away, hiding her tears.

"Ma'am, we must know where he is now. Blackoff's army is fast approaching. They're taking humans into what they call 'labour camps'."

The Doctor stood up. "No." He ran his hands over his face. "Sargent Bennett, I believe we've met. The chief is occupied at the moment but he has made me commander in chief." He showed Sargent Bennett his psychic paper. Mary tried to interrupt but the Doctor shushed her. "I am promoting you to a captain. I need you to gather everyone to defend Hope from Blackoff's army."

"But…"

"Just do whatever you can to buy us time. Please. We are going to get everyone in Hope to a safe place." He assured him.

Yes sir." He saluted.

"No, you look like you're self-concussing. Seriously, what is up with people with guns and their stupidity? Anyway, we don't have time. Go!" He turned to Mary. "Mary, gather everyone in Hope. I have a plan."

"You must have a bloody good one, because you've just given a suicidal order to Sargent Bennett and the rest of the police force. They won't stand a chance!" Tears were flowing down Mary's eyes.

"That's Captain Bennett now. I believe in him. He'll buy us time. Now, the underground tunnels. Or the Eden of Peace or whatever. Do you know anything about them?" He pointed at Mary.

"That's just a fairy-tale." Mary sniffled. "Are you messing me about?" She angrily retorted.

"No. They're real. I saw it myself. Come on, we have a whole town to save. The police force too."

He ran to the town square and rang the bell. The people started gathering.

"Hello, I'm the new chief in town. President Blackoff is invading Hope with an army. I need you to gather whatever you need and follow Mary into the secret tunnels."

There was an uncertain murmur among the crowd.

"Why should we trust you?" A villager asked. The crowd became noisy again. The Doctor quickly had to make something up. He felt the book inside his coat pocket. He suddenly had a wild idea.

"Because I am the bearer of this book. Yes, the book that will save you from danger of the devil. No, it's not a fairy tale. It's the truth. Now, there's an army approaching to kill you all. Do you want to spend more time having a good chit chat over here?!" He yelled as he showed them the golden book. Suddenly, the crowd kneeled.

"No, no. Don't do that. Why are you doing that?" The Doctor started panicking. He was not expecting everyone to treat him as some kind of god.

Mary looked at him in shock. "It's you… The Traveller. It all makes sense now. So the prophecy is true." She kneeled.

"Stop. Everyone stop. Please, listen to me. There's an army approaching to take over Hope. I need you to do as I say. There is an underground tunnel running throughout the town of Hope. I want you to…"

The librarian whispered to him. "Doctor, I'll lead them to the tunnels. Don't tell them about the library entrance."

"… I want you to follow the librarian into that tunnel. Take only the things you need." The Doctor addressed everyone.

"What if there are Blackoff operatives amongst us? They'll lead them to where we're hiding and we'll be dead in seconds." Mary whispered.

"Don't worry. There is a psychic force field which will be able to divert the dangerous people into different areas. The door only opens to the ones who needs it." The librarian answered the question.

"Like the book?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes. Just like the psychic force field around the book." The librarian answered with a smile.

"So, metal scanner for the brains. A brain scanner! That is so clever! I am impressed, and that's not something that happens every day." The Doctor smirked.

The librarian led them to a cave in a nearby hill. They stepped on a teleporter and it teleported them to the hub of the underground tunnel. Meanwhile, the Blackoff operatives were teleported to somewhere very far from Hope and its tunnels.

"There you are! Where are the tunnels?!" Blackoff demanded to an operative after finding one in a forest.

"What tunnels? Where am I? Who are you? Is that a gun?" The man scratched his head.

Blackoff's face became angry red and he shot him on the spot.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Once everyone was settling inside the tunnel, the Doctor contacted Captain Bennett. "Captain, tell all your men to retreat. There's people near the town square to bring you here." There was static.

"Roger that." The voice came through the speaker. He breathed out with relief.

Meanwhile, Captain Bennett was commanding the police force to stop them from approaching.

"In your positions!" He yelled.

"Ready!" He cocked the gun.

"Fire!" The front line received the shots from the police force, but continued approaching without a scratch. There was a green beam and the man who got hit was disintegrated on the spot.

"Retreat!" He screamed. "They started firing endless amount of rounds. Some on the other side fell, but stood up again, only to fight back with those disintegrating rays. "Hold the line! Protect the village at all costs!" He ran back to the police station, and quickly started transferring the data into the drive.

"Step away from the computer." A soldier pointed the gun at him. He quietly hid the drive. "These bullets are laced with poison made from the medical testing facilities. It will make sure you have a slow, painful, agonising death once hit."

The drive flashed to signify the completion of the data. Captain Bennett quietly took out the drive.

'three… two… one…' he quietly counted before he made a run for it. Suddenly he felt something pierce through his leg. He fell. The man took the flash drive off him as he strangled him.

"End of the road for you." The man said as he fired several bullets into Captain Bennett's body. A group of his men came in and fired. Blackoff's soldier fell, laughing. Suddenly, he exploded like a water balloon. His group of men fell, retching and coughing for breath.

"Poison. It's poisonous gas." One of the men choked out.

His body was contracting. His breath became strained and every move was terribly painful. He started dying slowly and with agonising pain. Just as he was losing his consciousness, he saw a golden light approaching him.

He slowly woke up with four of his men inside an underground tunnel. He drifted into sleep as people transferred them into infirmary rooms.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The Doctor made sure everything was organised into place with the help of Mary's. When he heard the news about Captain Bennett appearing inside the tunnel in a golden light, he made sure they were attended to. He went to check up on him as soon as everything was working for everyone.

He sat on the bedside table, waiting for him to wake up. For an underground infirmary room, it was well lit, well decorated and had a comfortable vibe to keep everyone relaxed. Captain Bennet rustled on the bed.

"Captain Bennett. Hey, how are you doing?"

"Doctor." He groaned in pain.

"Shh, don't speak. I want you to rest up. You were very brave. You saved everyone in Hope."

He smiled and fell asleep.

Suddenly, the TVs turned itself on.

"Those TVs are not connected." Mary said. "We haven't connected any communicational devices yet. We are still programming a scrambling signal."

The Doctor scanned the signal. "Omcom. We can't do anything, we can't even turn it off. Blackoff is broadcasting to everyone on this planet and he wants everyone to listen." The Doctor said after scanning with his screwdriver.

"Hello, as you know, I am president Blackoff. Thank you for everyone's support in our cleansing of Preevos. It is refreshing for me to see so many people who now know the true evilness of humanity. However, I have also seen some resistance in some parts and I have a message for them. This is especially to the Doctor and his rebellion."

There was a man tied on a chair.

"Brandon." Mary covered her mouth in shock. A man in a black mask placed a red, wired collar around his neck. "No, what are they doing?! That's my husband." She approached the screen.

"This man, Brandon Hamilton James, was a chief officer of Hope. He refused to be co-operative in the capturing of the Doctor, the man who is clearly a threat to the future of Preevos. Anyone who shows weaknesses to the loyalty towards the government of Preevos will enter the same fate seen here."

The black-masked man turned a machine on. He convulsed on the spot and was dead in a minute.

"Dear Mary James, your son will be safe if you hand the Doctor over to me." There was a footage of Oliver in some kind of a lab, covered in an oxygen mask and tubings. The connection cut out.

The Doctor looked at Mary, stunned. Mary silently left the room.

The next day, the Doctor entered Mary's quarters. "I'm… sorry."

"It's not your fault." She avoided looking at him.

"I'll go. I'll hand myself over to them. That way, your son will be safe." The Doctor suggested.

Mary shook her head.

"No. Knowing Blackoff, he'll take you, and not give Oliver back. He won't stop unless all of us surrender to him."

The Doctor nodded his head. "So you've figured it out too." There was a knock at the door and Captain Bennett came in a wheelchair. The nurse was dragged in as protest. "I'm sorry, he was very insistent." She apologised.

"Doctor. I needed to give you this. I quickly got it off the police data frame before we were invaded by the army." He handed a flash drive.

"Ooh. What's in here?" He took it and scanned with the screwdriver.

"A few years ago, there were two hackers, two college students who hacked the military base and tried to stop Blackoff from rising into military power. When they were found out, the data was deleted and they were sent to life sentence, but the chief managed to save a copy for himself. It turned out that Blackoff and their associates had been working on this war for centuries and the things like labour camps and medical labs had already been secretly in place. The disk has the information about their plans, and location of the 'camps' they've built and were going to build in the future."

The Doctor smiled. "Their secrets. Ah. I think you know what I'm thinking." He looked at Mary.

"Take down the concentration camps from this map?" She guessed.

The Doctor nodded. "We need more people to help us in our crusade. You know, I'm sorry I said you're stupid. You're brilliant." He gently patted his shoulder. Captain Bennett smiled gratefully.

"I will gather volunteers." Mary said and left.

Week after week, they managed gather enough people and bring down concentration camps after concentration camps.

Every night, the Doctor sent a mail to Vlakos, hoping that Clara saw it. He did not realise that Blackoff intercepted all these letters, despite the Doctor being extremely careful with security. From far away, Blackoff laughed at the Doctor.

"I know your weakness now, Doctor. I will never let the prophecy happen. I will never let the Traveller beat me in my game."

* * *

><p><strong>Psst. There's a review box, just underneath the story. Can I have some constructive feedbackimprovement ideas pretty please? :)**


	11. Chapter 10: The Doctor's Help

**Hey, hey, thank you to _bgeiner, Oxi, ProEllusionist _and _GleamStars _for the reviews, and everyone who's followed/favourited for your support!  
>[I saw another author crediting reviewers names, so I thought I should try as well, seeing as all the reviewers were kind enough to spare time to send word of encouragementsimprovements and suggestions - let me know if it's a bad idea :| (first fanfic, remember? I DO NOT KNOW how other fanfic authors operate in this site :S)]**

**Now, before you start reading the chapter, I would like to explain a few things.  
><span>There will be nod backs to the past and repetitive scenes in this chapter.<span> The reason I placed them in here is because you will now be able to see how the snippets of story from past chapters are chronologically placed in the Doctor's memory.  
>To clear it up a bit, <span>I have made the repetitive scenes in <em>italics.<em>   
>But there are scenes where they are nod-backs, yet added with more detail or from a different point of view. For your comfort, I have left those in <span>normal writing<span> :)**

**Let me know if it's too confusing :S Might rewrite it if everyone finds it too timey-wimey XD  
><strong>

**Right. Enjoy! :D**

* * *

><p>One day, something broadcasted on TV that broke the Doctor's hearts.<p>

_"I am Clara Oswald and I am human. I bombed the town square on 4:12pm 01 01 Preonian year 1000 and successfully assassinated the president and 78 other civilians. The main purpose of this was to show how inferior your species is to us humans. I am part of the rebels and a close friend to the Doctor. The underground rebels will strike again. There will be more blood bath."_

The Doctor touched the TV screen, as if he was touching the real her. "Clara, what have they done to you?" The Doctor looked at it with sorrow and worry. Her face was bruised and she was noticeably thinner than the last time he saw her. Ever since day 1, he had tried to plan a way to get her home without Blackoff noticing. It was harder than he thought as he was now the public face of Preevos' rebellion and Vlakos was under Blackoff's heavy supervision. He was frustrated again and again because he could never find a rescue plan that worked effectively. He even tried rewiring the TARDIS over and over to break free of the magnetisation. But nothing ever worked. At night time, he climbed the mountain and screamed to let his rage out. He gazed up at the asteroid, furiously apologising again and again. In his short sleeps, he heard Clara screaming out in pain and sorrow for help. He knew she needed help but all he could do was to watch her suffer through his dreams.

The Doctor told everyone in his party that Clara was not the killer. He told stories about how the worlds sing in the memory of her, how she is one of the greatest teachers on Earth and how many times she had saved people, including himself. Despite this, many people believed in the propaganda and they started leaving. No one believed him at first. But one day, he managed to spot an ear piece in Clara's footage and match it with the story inside the book of the legend of Preevos. When he was reading about this item, his hearts broke for the second time.

"The earpiece is a direct gateway to the neural centres of the victim's brain. The victim will be able to do and say whatever the oppressor commands them to."

Many people had already left, but the ones who remained all counted on the Doctor, as their leader and as the Traveller.

That one day came when he was leading the rebels once again to sabotage a concentration camp. They were deep inside a concentration camp and had just taken down the communication of the soldiers. Something popped up on his scanner.

"Captain Bennett, I found a hidden level not far from here. The scanner shows some lifeforms in the area. I'll join you once I get them out. Get yourself to safety." He commanded.

"Yes sir." He saluted and left to join them.

When the Doctor followed his screwdriver to the hidden floor, he was knocked out with a blow to his head, and a lockdown was initiated.

He woke up and realised he was chained on the bed. He was only wearing his white shirt and black pants. The red-lined coat was hanging not far off from where he was. His head was spinning. He groaned in pain. His eyes focused on a man wearing a green surgical mask.

"Where am I?" He croaked.

"Hello, Doctor. I've heard lots about you. Seeing you in person is… well… underwhelming to say the least."

"Let me go." He demanded.

"Two hearts? "And a psychic too. You are a beautiful creature. What are you? Appalapachians? Aplans? Oh wait, they had two heads. Now, what kind of creature would have two hearts?" He said, ignoring his question, running his finger through the Doctor's chest. "and oh, what is this apparatus?" The man said, waving the screwdriver above his head.

"Why would I tell you?" The Doctor spat.

"It's okay. By the time you wake up, we will know who and what you are." The needle hissed and injected him with a cold substance. His eyes rolled back as he fell asleep.

He was ripped out of sleep as he felt a brain splitting headache. He had been dreaming about the adventure to the waterfalls of Cascadia with Clara. He now realised the tube down his lungs and other parts of his body, suppling unknown chemicals into his body. The pain was unbearable.

_"Oh Clara, my Clara." The Doctor gulped in pain. "I'm sorry, but I need your help." He muttered, almost out of breath. He didn't really understand where he was, nor why he was there. He would have known, if it wasn't for that inhibitor they've planted across his forehead. That muddled everything in his brain. It was like looking through murky water, only it was his memories he was trying to look through. There was a tube fed to his lungs providing him with god knows what. But he knew it wasn't oxygen as his body was slowly switching itself to the Timelord bypass system, the biological system used by Timelords when there's not enough oxygen for him to breathe. He couldn't see much but he knew that he was inside some kind of an operating theatre. A door creaked open._

_"Hello again, my beautiful creature. Now I know what you are. Timelord." The man laughed maniacally. "Since I know exactly what you are now, I've made you something special." He whispered into the Doctor's ear. The Doctor's eyes widened as he saw what it was – aqueous aspirin._

The aspirin was injected into his blood stream. The Doctor's pupils dilated, and his hearts started beating furiously against each other.

"Let…me…go…" the Doctor demanded.

"Why would I? It took us so long to capture you." The man responded with a sly smirk. He waved a metal bracelet around in front of his face. The Doctor weakly fought against the restraints. "Oh, you know what they are, don't you?" He laughed.

"Pain bracelets. Banned with intergalactic universal law." He said through his teeth. He despised everything here. He despised Preevos and the person he was seeing in front of him and especially Blackoff.

"Oh, and look, Doctor." A screen descended from the ceiling and stopped a few meters in front of his eyes. It was a footage of Clara. The person dressed in a suit placed four bracelets on Clara and she fell weakly in pain. She shortly blacked out.

"What have you done to her?" The Doctor yelled in rage. There laid his best friend suffering in pain, his friend whom he was responsible for.

"Now now, keep watching." He pushed.

The agent went to his suitcase and pulled out two small, blue ear plugs. He forced them into Clara's ear canals. Clara motionlessly sat down on the chair. He set up a camera and she started talking. "_I am Clara Oswald and I am human. I bombed the town square…"_

When the filming was done, the agent started beating her. But she stayed in one place, just like a punching bag. The Doctor looked away. He refused to cry in front of the man, no matter how much it hurt on the inside.

"And guess what we have today?" He showed the blue earplugs. "They are something President Blackoff have been working on for a long, long time. Once they are connected to your neural system, it sends your mind elsewhere so that we can control your body. Cool eh? I'm guessing you already know that, being the Traveller and all. Now, you'll be able to answer and do whatever we ask you to." He giggled.

"No." He looked at them, gritting his teeth.

"You know why you put on the pain bracelets on first? Because, your brain focuses more on the pain than the real invaders. Brains are stupid like that. Always the immediate danger first, never focuses on the serious, yet slow invasions. But for Timelords, it's a bit different. Ooh, yes, we know about you now. Your friend, Clara, decided to tell us. Well, all for her dying friend. You've been replaced, Doctor. Since we know you're a Timelord, we couldn't just kill you. We also know that your species' psychic powers are way too powerful to leave it untamed." The man slit his forehead and placed a long, flat silvery metal pad connected by several wires. The Doctor gave a pained yelp. He felt the blood trickling down the side of his head. "This is for us to inhibit your time sense to zero. Psychitrictors never work properly on a powerful psychic like you." The man placed the bracelets on both of his wrists and ankles. He cried out in pain. He fought against the restraints, trying to get them off. "And don't think about regenerating because it's disabled. We've been giving you dilute form of aspirin so you can stick with us longer." The man cackled maniacally.

"Now we have complete control over your body. With these earplugs, you will now tell us about all the secrets." He plugged it on him, and he fell into a long, black abyss. He woke up in a cold grey cell on the other side. He realised that this place was where the earplug sends the minds of the victims. He was not surprised to see others suffering in the cells. In the beginning, he did all his might to wake up to control his body again. He screamed in rage, paced around and made as much noise and movement as he could. In there, he didn't feel like himself. He felt like he was floating around in a dream. They asked questions, and he was obliged to tell them. The things they forced him to do were bad. Find this person… kill them… He screamed but no one listened. They forced him to find things and build things like different types of weaponry or create biological diseases. Using limited psychic powers, it was painful and straining. With all his psychic and time sense out of control, he was scared and utterly confused.

"What is your name?" a voice asked. His controllable mind suddenly woke up and screamed. "No. you must not." The cell was now glowing in red. " .y namm..ee is the Ddd..doctor." His body stammered out.

"What is your _real_ name?" the voice went deeper.

The Doctor crouched down and hid his face in the corner. He was scared. He didn't know what to do. He focused making a mind block. There was a sly voice that was trying to force the words out.

"Okay, we'll ask him after the break. There's plenty of time." The Doctor breathed out in relief hearing that sentence.

Suddenly he heard a voice echoing in his mind. "Hey. I don't know if you can hear me, but I am on your side. I'm sorry you're being treated like this." He felt a warm hand squeezing his lifeless hand. "I can't free you just yet, it's too risky. But I am going to help you take control of your mind so you can stop them from controlling your body. Unfortunately, it means it's going to hurt. Don't lose hope, Doctor. People are coming for you. Know that many of us believe in you." Something clicked and the pain flooded his mind. He now had the strength to control his mind, which meant he could stop them from commanding him to do or answer anything. It also meant that he could feel whatever they were doing to his physical body.

"Right Doctor, what is your name?" There was silence. "Adjust the pain levels." The man commanded. "What is your name?" He screamed.

The Doctor was still in the 'grey cell', he was whimpering in pain. He refused to answer. He silently sobbed. From then, he felt everything. He felt them pumping aspirin into his blood. He felt them cutting him open and putting things all back together. He felt like he was slowly losing his sanity.

"Right, go to the next question." The man commanded.

_The Doctor flinched as a pulse shot through his veins. "Where is the peace orb?" A man screamed at him. _

_"Clara." The Doctor called out. "Help me. My impossible girl, I'm sorry." He breathed out shakily in pain._

_The man gave him another shot of a vial of blue chemical._

_"Tell me where it is."_

_"I'm from space! With two hearts and 27 brains…" he muttered. "The wind bites now, and the world is grey, and I am alone…" He whispered in pain. _

_"He must be delirious." The man said. _

_A door hissed open._

_"Agent, glad you could join us." He greeted a man with a firm handshake._

_The agent shook his hand and slowly approached the Doctor, who was twisting in his restraints in pain. "So, this is the famed Timelord? So underwhelming to see him like this, I thought he was the oncoming storm? Look at him, so pathetic!" He laughed at the Doctor's weak body. He crouched close to the Doctor's ear. "You know Doctor, I met your dear friend once. Clara's a pretty little thing, isn't she? I made sure that she was in excruciating pain. You know, she still thinks you'll save him. 'Save me Doctor' she repeats over and over. Even in her sleep. You should have seen her eyes. So much optimism, always thinking that her shining knight in armour will save her from her suffering. Yet here you are, all tied up and delirious. How pathetic. I'm going to kill Clara the next time I see her. Squeeze the life out of her puny female human body. I'll make sure I film it so that you can see it. You'll be able to see it over and over in the big old head of yours." He said, as he mockingly poked the Doctor's temples._

_Suddenly, a memory extractor that was connected to the Doctor's forehead short-circuited with a spark. The agent cried out in pain, unable to take his finger off the Doctor's temple._

_"How dare you insult Clara like that." The Doctor growled. His eyes shined golden. "How dare you talk as if life wasn't important?" The agent clutched his head as he started having seizures._

_The alarm started ringing, and the scientists ran in, all frozen at the sight. There was golden energy flowing from the agent's head to the Doctor's. _

_"What the hell is happening here?!" The lead scientist sprinted in._

_"I don't know sir, I think it's using its psychic power to drain his mind." Another scientist hypothesised._

_"Stop him. NOW!" He demanded, and the scientists started running all around the place trying to find something to stop the Timelord's fury._

_Before the energy transfer was completed, the Doctor was stopped with an excruciating pain to his heart. _

_The Doctor looked down to see an electrode embedded on his right heart, pulsing out electricity to counteract his heart activity. The Doctor psychically let go of the agent's body, focusing more on his pain. The body fell on the ground with a thud._

_"Oh that is excellent." The lead scientist exclaimed with a maniacal laugh. The Doctor hissed in pain as the man touched the long, silver electrode that was piercing his skin all the way down to his heart._

_"Remember, Doctor. We control you now." The scientist said as he dug the electrode deeper into his heart._

From that incident, he decided to stay in his grey cell in his mind silently. It felt much better than being out in the real world. The real world was much worse than these cells he was sitting in. At least in the cells, he didn't see any damage they were doing to his body. Someone had turned the earplugs off, but he still could go to that place with the help from the time-sense restrictor they've placed on his forehead since they were running a similar program to operate. The only difference was that he was now there by choice, not by force.

One day, he heard the cell doors open while he was sobbing but ignored it.

"Are you okay?" Someone said it with the utmost care. No one came into the cells. There were no guards to check on them. Who was this person?

He abruptly stopped sobbing. He slowly lifted his head from his knees.

"Clara?" He said, surprised. Clara backed away. How was Clara here? Unless… unless she had the earplugs on. The image of Clara wearing the earplugs in the recording suddenly went past his muddled head. 'So this place isn't only displacing the minds out of place, it's displacing them out of time.' He realised. He wiped his tears and faced her. Clara was wearing a red prison uniform.

"Doctor?" hearing Clara's voice helped him reorganise his muddled mind. He was frustrated to see all of his thoughts slip away like holding water in your hands. The pain was too overwhelming. The Doctor stood up as she stood up. Clara charged to hug him. He flinched in the sharp pain the action brought to his body. But he didn't care. He hugged her back.

"I missed you, I missed you so much." Clara said as she burst into tears. He hated it. Don't cry. He had so much to say to her. But he had to ask real questions. He felt the people outside cutting open his body. 'Please.' he begged to his body. 'Anytime but now.'

"What happened to you? You shouldn't be here." He asked, half gritting his teeth in pain, half in sadness because Clara was also suffering with him.

Clara let go of the hug to answer his question but felt something sticky running down her arms. She looked at it and looked at him in shock.

"Clara…" The Doctor tried to calm her down. The reality was seeping into his mind. He cursed.

"Ddddd…doc…toorr…" Clara stammered as she pointed at his white shirt. She stepped back a few more steps. Clara's arms and her shirt was now dripping with the Doctor's blood. He suddenly felt the people testing with his body shocking one of his heart to stop its beat. Pain rose over him and he collapsed face first onto the cold, hard cement floor. He had to tell Clara of this place. She needed to wake up and take control of her body. If she woke up, she could stop all of this from happening. "Get her out, get her out, get her out, right NOW! Hurry up, you idiot!" His mind screamed at himself.

"C..lara… wake… up…" Clara turned him over. Clara looked stunned. The Doctor felt weaker and weaker. But he had to continue. "Stop them… they're… using… you…" He closed his eyes, trying to conserve energy. "Please Clara." He repeated her name. He didn't want her to leave him but she had to go. "Clara… Clara… Clara…"

When he woke up he was back in the cell again, intact. His pain became worse ever since his left heart stopped. "Help me Clara…" He said over and over. He felt powerless. He couldn't get out of this situation.

He couldn't tell how long it had been since he was here. They had disabled his time sense which kept him in the dark. He laid on the cold floor trying to withhold the pain they were giving him. He felt them cut him open, take out his guts, place them in his body again and patch him up like the teddy bear he patched up for Oliver. At least he wasn't seeing the damage.

"Doctor! Can you hear me?" A voice echoed in his mind.

"C..l..aa..ra..?" He tried to sound normal but it came out as a slur. The people outside was in the process of forcefully extracting his memories off him. It was hard when they were doing that. He didn't like that very much. He had managed to withhold the most important and dangerous memories from them. He could feel how frustrated they were getting because they couldn't control him even though they were using everything they could.

"Oh god, what have they done to you?" Clara was choking in her tears.

'No, don't cry, you're hurting me.' He thought. He couldn't quite get it out of his mouth though. It only came out as a groan. He opened his eyes to see Clara heartbroken. He had to tell her to stay awake. They could take control of her body when she was here.

"Don't be here… Clara… Wake up… It's dangerous here…." The Doctor struggled with his words. Darkness greeted him.

"What do you mean? Where is this place?" Clara's voice faintly echoed in his mind. "Doctor?"

_"Doctor." A teasing voice could be heard from the distance. He slowly opened his eyes with a groan as a blurry figure came into focus. "Hello Doctor, how are you doing? I've turned the memory extractor off for a bit because I wanted you to see this." The man left the room and came back with someone sitting lifelessly on a wheelchair._

_"Clara." He exclaimed. His impossible girl was the one sitting on a wheelchair as pale as a sheet of paper. He would have thought she was dead if it wasn't for her chest slowly rising up and down. "What have you done to her?!" He exploded with rage. A pulse sparked through his now-not functioning right heart and he spluttered in pain once again._

_"Nothing yet, she's just recovering from a blow of a peb box. You have an impressive friend, Doctor. She excels in the usage of both her mental and her physical powers. How wonderful would it be if we used her to lead our side to glory? Death to all humans by a pure human herself. Her blood is full of background radiation. She's a human with time abnormalities. I'm guessing she's been travelling with you a lot." He snickered. "And we have both of you here. How ridiculously wonderful."_

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The scientists came in and conducted more experiments using his body. The memories were disjointed as he blacked out quite often during them. The pain became a numb sensation and his consciousness was like a flickering candle.

He finally woke up properly hearing the alarms. He slowly wiggled his fingers and toes. They were still restrained but he had finally gained control over them. He laughed in joy. He was finally in the real world again, without suffering from horrendous pain. He used his psychic powers to seek the monsters who had been testing on him. But during this process, he was surprised to touch Clara's subconsciousness. He checked again. Last time he checked, Clara wasn't psychic. The psychic scanning only worked for people who were actually psychic, such as the Timelords and Preeonians. It excluded humans, unless they had a talent for it. It didn't matter though, because he could contact her. She was close by. The Doctor realised that she was under a hallucinatory drug, which disorganised her mind. When he entered her subconsciousness, everything was blurry due to his weak powers and the drugs she was under. But he saw himself, asking her to shoot an innocent man. No, that wasn't him - that was the monster who tested on him, masking his identity under the Doctor's face!

_"Clara, stop." He called out to her in an angry voice. The anger was directed more to the man than Clara._

_"Who are you?" Clara squinted, swaying side to side under the influence of the drug._

_"I'm your best friend. Not the imposter you're seeing over there." The Doctor pointed accusedly at the monster underneath his face. His past face. "Remember, that version of me died. He died in Trenzalore. Clara, be smart. Think critically, not emotionally."_

_"Doc…tor?" Clara's mind was getting weaker from the drug. He had to do something._

_"How are you doing that?" The 'fake' Doctor replied. He seemed surprised._

_"Get out of my friend's head. You can torture me as much as you like. But you don't have the right to torture her. She is under my protection. No matter what you do to both of us, you will never harm my best friend." The Doctor threatened with a deathly glare. The man turned around, as he noticed the alarms. He left the room without a word. He knew the rebels were coming, and he was going up to join the others in the teleporter. The lights flickered, and Clara's chains clicked open as it short circuited._

_"Clara, listen to me. Run. The rebels are coming. They won't be able to find where we are so take the stairs and get out of this place. You have to escape before this place locks down. Please don't try to find me. Promise me that." The Doctor pleaded. She had to get out of place, or she will never be able to in the future._

_"Why not?" Clara was whimpering. The fear in her eyes. The Doctor couldn't bear to look. _

"Because you won't have time." He said. The real reason was partly because she didn't have time and partly because he didn't want Clara to see him like this, vulnerable and most definitely traumatising. "Good bye Clara." He woke up properly in his own bed.

As she left, the Doctor felt her mind hesitating in front of the exit sign.

'No, there's no time, go to the exit' He subtly sent a mental message to Clara, hoping she would listen. He sighed in relief as she made it to the ground level. When the lockdown initiated, he was disconnected from her mind. A dark silence and loneliness encompassed him once again.

A door slowly opened and a person walked in. The Doctor prepared himself for another wave of pain, but instead was greeted with his restraints unlocking.

"What…?" The Doctor looked to the silhouette, confused.

"Oh god, that scared me, I thought you were still under… whatever they had you. My name is Kerryn. I used to be a guard at Vlakos. I knew your best friend, Clara. When my son was dying, she sacrificed herself so that I can go see him again for the last time. He died holding my hand. I am here to repay the debt I owe her." The Doctor saw Kerryn's determined face.

"…How did you know I was her friend?"

"I heard her muttering your name so many times, Doctor. I was transferred to this place from Vlakos. Things they did to you horrified me, but I had to stay, knowing I had to rescue you from this place."

The Doctor finally recognised her voice. She was the one who told him not to lose hope. Kerryn smiled and continued:

"Also, you're not the only psychic here, I saw you stopping her from shooting the old man. Remarkable psychic skills though, not a lot of psychics can do that, even at full capacity." The Doctor smiled but it shortly disappeared when he tried to move. He realised that his body was still halfly open, exposing his organs and his right heart was still not beating. He cursed at the pain.

"Can you bring some… bandages? Or glue? Or something that can hold my guts in place?" He said, taking out the long tube that was inserted into his lungs. Kerryn brought a roll of long bandages. The Doctor restarted his heart, did his best to close the open wound, ripped out the needles providing aspirin and the metal plate on his head that was stopping him from thinking properly. Once the plate was off, he felt his ability to sense time return. He sighed in relief and joy. He had been in the facility for 5 months, 23 days 4 hours 52 minutes and 4 seconds.

"We have to go before they return. Can you walk?" Kerryn asked as she supported the Doctor to sit up.

He nodded and confidently got off the bed. When his weight reached the ground, he stumbled over.

"Maybe not." He said, as he slowly crawled to the edge of the wall. He found crutches leaning against the wall and used them to stand up. Kerryn took his coat and his screwdriver.

"Quick, we have to get you to the transporter." Kerryn whispered with an urgency in her voice.

When they got into the transporter room she placed him in a seat and placed a seatbelt across him.

"Now wait here. I need to disable the locking system from the control room outside the transporter." She said and walked out to the control panel.

The Doctor peered into the window as she initiated launch. Suddenly, the door opened and the soldiers entered with guns pointed at her. The leader of the pack made her kneel and put her hands up in the air.

"No!" The Doctor yelled from inside the transporter. There was a conversation between Kerryn and the leader of the pack. Kerryn yelled something and pressed the LAUNCH button. As the transporter slowly ascended to the sky, the Doctor saw Kerryn being shot on the head. She collapsed onto the ground, bleeding out. A golden light consumed her, and she was gone. He crouched down in sadness. So many were dead because of him. Too many. Halfway through thinking about all the guilt, he started feeling light headed and started shivering badly in cold.

"Dizziness, drop in body temperature, light-headedness… diagnosis: blood pressure dropping?" He questioned himself.

He looked at his stomach and found that the bandage was now completely drenched in blood, blood now leaking outside the bandages. "Oh, just great!" He sarcastically yelled.

After a few hours, the transporter landed on ground with a thud. When the door opened, the Doctor was lifelessly sat on the seat, stiff and pale white.

oOooOooOoOoOoOoOoO

"Woof!" A dog was barking in the snowy forest.

"Bobby, what is it?" The old woman asked. She followed the dog to Clara, who was on the ground, bleeding and breathing shallowly.

"Oh no. Clara?" She gasped. She scanned the area cautiously, as she heard the soldiers yelling commands to each other.

She quickly held onto Bobby and Clara and activated a transporter back to her lodge.

"You're safe now Clara, you're safe." She said, as she brushed a strand of hair from Clara's pale face.


	12. Chapter 11: The Mad, Scary Man

**Similar jazz here, flashbacks are _italicised!_**

**Thanks to: MadGirlWithAMask, Evilkyubi, ProEllusionist, bgeiner, Last1stnding and Gleamstars for the reviews!**

**Enjoy! :)**

* * *

><p>Henry opened his eyes.<p>

"Where am I?" He tried to rip the oxygen mask off his face.

"No, no, stay. You're safe. You're back at the HQ." It was Mary.

"What happened?" The nurses stopped him as he tried to sit up.

"You need to rest." A nurse said. Henry glared at her and she backed down.

"Henry, do you remember what happened?" Mary tried to jog his memory.

He closed his eyes. A flashback hit him.

_"No! Cl…" Henry covered Miere's mouth before she could say her name. He whispered, "Not here. They'll recognise her." Miere nodded with her tear filled eyes._

_"What are they going to do to her?" Miere looked into Henry's eyes with sorrow._

_"No idea. I'm sure she'll be fine. You saw how she took down the soldiers." He assured her. Miere nodded with a doubt in her mind._

_Henry was terrified of this place. It was worse than being in Vlakos. But seeing Miere scared made him realise that he has to stay strong for her as a best friend. Their trackers started buzzing. That meant one thing: the soldiers were coming to get them. _

_Henry looked at Miere in relief. "They're coming!" They laughed in joy. They only had to be there for one more day before they were coming. They hugged each other in relief. Suddenly, a soldier ripped them off from each other._

_"You're coming with us." The soldier said taking Miere's arm. Henry's hope deflated. Miere looked terrified to say the least._

_"Wait, where are you taking her?" He asked bravely._

_"None of your business." They struck Henry's solar plexus with the butt of the gun. He stumbled onto the ground spluttering._

Henry opened his eyes, filled with tears.

"Yes. I remember."

Another flashback hit him.

_The lights turned off while the people were having dinner. They heard gun shots outside. The door opened and there stood a man silhouetted by the twin moonlight outside._

_"Everyone, we're the rebels and we're here to rescue you. Follow me in an orderly fashion to the vans. Henry saw the glint of hope in these people's eyes. Some people were even crying in joy. _

_Henry ran. He had to get Miere and Clara… Wherever they were. He entered a remote building. As he went past, he saw bodies and skeletons, starved people trembling in cold and pain and other horrific things he desperately wanted to unsee. Then he found her. He opened the door and covered his mouth in shock and disgust. Miere laid there as pale as a ghost wearing some sort of a wired helmet. She was also wearing an oxygen mask and had multiple IV bags connected to her arms. He went outside and screamed for help. He felt a cold butt of the gun next to his head._

_"What have you done to Miere?" He yelled._

_"I think you're not in the position of asking questions." The man spat back._

_"Drop your gun. You are surrounded!" Henry heard a patter of boots. The man with the gun was now surrounded by the rebel soldiers._

_"One more step and I shoot him!" He threatened. He backed up to a fence and saw that there were more soldiers at the back as well. There was no escape for him. _

_"I'm going to die anyway." The man aiming the gun at Henry said. Henry heard the gun fire. He felt the burning bullet penetrate into his skull, into the soft tissues of his brain. The ringing overpowered his senses but he faintly heard another shot that shot the gunman dead._

_"Medic!" The voice grew distant. Suddenly, he was encompassed in a golden light. He saw a silhouette of a person. This person crouched down. A warm silvery light touched his burning, bleeding skull. Then he felt himself falling to the cold mud._

Henry gasped. He faced Mary as he touched his skull. "What happened to me? Why am I not dead? What was the golden glow? Where's Miere?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, too many questions at once. You got shot. We don't know what happened. You burst into gold flames, and just lost consciousness." Mary explained. "Miere… is in some kind of a coma."

"What?!" He got off the bed. "Where is she? I need to see."

Mary sighed and took him to her room. Henry checked the scanner. Normal heart beat, normal brain activity… normal everything.

"There's nothing wrong with her. She should be awake right now." Henry said confusedly.

"Exactly. The doctors can't figure out what is wrong with her. We really need your help so that we can help her as much as possible."

"Wait. Is Clara in a coma too?" He turned around and faced Mary. Mary looked away.

"We… couldn't find Clara."

"You have to!" He screamed. He grabbed onto Mary's shoulder. "We need her! All of us!"

Mary took a step backwards, startled at his sudden change. "I'm sure we do. We tried our best…"

"NO. You don't understand. You have to save her because she's the Traveller." Henry blurted out.

"No, YOU don't understand. You got it wrong. We already know who the Traveller is. It's the Doctor. And he's captured."

Henry stared at Mary with confusion. "What?" He muttered.

"Mummy!" A boy entered the room and broke the mood. He clung onto Mary's leg and stared at Henry with his big hazel eyes.

"Is he your son?" Henry asked Mary, completely forgetting about the questions.

Mary answered instead. "Yeah. His name is Oliver. Sorry, he's very shy among strangers. The last of the rescue vans found him running down from the mountain." She smiled. "I thought I lost him. But I got him back." She hugged Oliver tightly.

Henry looked at the boy who was now fidgeting with something in his fingers. Was that a ring? No, was that _the _ring?

Henry slowly crouched down in front of him. Oliver tightly clutched onto his mother's leg again.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you. Can I see what you have in your hand?" Henry talked to him eye to eye.

Oliver hesitated but gently placed the ring on Henry's palm. Mary gasped. Henry was speechless.

"Oliver, how did you get this?" Mary asked her son in shock.

"There were bad people but a nice lady gave this to me and said to run." Oliver said.

"I know who gave him this ring." Henry said, almost distantly, looking at the ring. "It was Clara."

Mary looked at him in shock.

"This is why I'm sure it's her. She's the Traveller." Henry firmly said.

"And you are sure it was her?" Mary questioned in disbelief.

"I had my suspicions at first, but I believe they've chosen her since day one. She showed me the ring and the watch."

"But that doesn't make sense. The Doctor had the book."

"We have to find both of them. Maybe we missed something? Maybe there's a part of the legend that no one knows about. Maybe they're both the part of the prophecy?"

"You know what else? We have to find the other items. We found three, which means we only have the gauntlet and the peace orb left. Well, given that Clara and the Doctor is still alive and the items haven't been spotted by the other side."

"Mary, we need you back in the hub." A voice sounded from the communicator. Mary looked at the communicator annoyed.

"Will be there." Mary said. "I have to go. Feel free to stay here in Miere's room if you'd like. Your bedroom is open so you can go back anytime." Henry nodded.

"Come on Oliver, let's get you back to your babysitter's place." Mary and Oliver left.

When Mary arrived at the hub, a scientist handed her a file.

"Ma'am, not far off from the camp, we found trails of blood. At first, we thought it was local wildlife injured by the snares, but we had to rule it out when we saw the foot prints." She handed Mary the photographs.

"We found foot prints in the snow, one belonging of a child and one belonging to a humanoid woman, mid to late 20s. We also found empty bullet shells all around the mountain. When we followed the blood trail, it ended in a puddle of blood, but we could not find any bodies nearby. The blood is in the lab for analysis and we're due for a result in any minute now."

"What was the boot print size for the child?" Mary asked.

"Size 4, ma'am." That was Oliver's size. She took a tablet and looked for Oliver.

"Mummy!" Oliver hugged her as soon as he saw her.

"Oliver," Mary showed him a picture of Clara. "Do you know who she is?"

Oliver nodded. "That's the nice lady. The bad people chased us so we ran really fast. In the mountain, we saw the truck and people far away. She gave me a ring and told me to hold Mr Teddy and run to the truck."

She hugged him in tears. She understood what Clara had done. She had saved the lives of the people getting into the last van and most of all, her son's life, by sacrificing her own. She had a very bad feeling that she was recaptured again. She desperately wished that the blood wasn't hers. Suddenly, an alarm rang.

"Unidentified transporter" the screen flashed. The soldiers quickly surrounded the vehicle in alert.

The doors slowly opened to find a body strapped to a seat, face facing the ground.

"Approach with caution." Mary commanded. The soldiers approached him slowly at gunpoint. One man crouched down to check his pulse.

"He's alive! Medic!" one of the soldiers yelled. The medic rushed in and placed him on a transportable bed and wheeled to their hospital sector. As the bed went past Mary, she stood there with jaws wide open in shock.

"Doctor?!"

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Henry fell asleep next to Miere's bed. In his dream, he felt the shock as the bullet pierced through his skull. The golden light surrounded him and the person in the light revealed herself to be Miere.

Henry gave a yelp as he was ripped from sleep. He saw Miere, still peacefully asleep. Was she the person in the golden light? She couldn't be! He gazed at Miere's peaceful face. He never saw this side of Miere. Mostly because she never slept. Mary rushed in the room. Henry stood up, seeing Mary's traumatised pale face.

"What's wrong?"

"We need your help. Quickly."

They stopped in front of an operation room where everyone was running around trying to get themselves organised. There was a pale man on the table. Henry turned to Mary.

"Mary, I'm not a doctor. I was only a student. I know nothing about treating these injuries. They're too severe." Henry said after seeing the man.

"I know." A nurse handed Mary a sample of the blood.

"I need you to analyse this and tell me what's in it."

"But..."

"Just do it. Please." Mary gave him a desperate look.

Henry got to work and shortly after, found the chemicals included in the sample of blood. He had so many questions about this blood.

"Mary." Henry called, and she quickly came. "This person is allergic to aspirin and has a resistance to anaesthetics… but I can't identify what type of blood this is. Who and what is this person?" He said as he handed the data from the analysis to Mary.

"He's a Time Lord. Thank you, now we know what to administer to him and how much."

"Are you kidding with me? Time Lords are extinct."

"I'll tell you later." Mary ran into the operation room and Henry was pushed out of it. He stood there for a moment and then went back to Miere's room.

A few hours later, Henry heard the transportable bed being wheeled into the next ward.

"Will he be okay?" It was Mary's voice.

"We've managed to cleanse his blood from aspirin and other substances and give proper treatment to the wounds. He should have been dead but he's miraculously alive. According to the legend, they heal faster than humans and Preeonians combined, so I expect he will be fine in a few days." He heard another woman's voice.

The sound of Mary's boots came closer. Henry pretended to be asleep. The door creaked open. He heard a chuckle and felt a blanket on his body. When she left the room, He checked that she was gone for good, and quietly sneaked into the next room. There was a wiry, grey haired man lying on the bed. His wound on his forehead that was neatly stitched together was already healing into a scar and his thin framed body was covered with a blanket. Henry walked up close to observe his face. There was an oxygen mask on his wrinkled face and his face was accented by his bushy, furious eyebrows. Henry leaned forward.

Suddenly, the man's eyes burst open. Startled, Henry stumbled backwards. The man slowly rose from bed as he groaned in pain and ripped the needles off his arm and the mask off his face. He placed a hand on his stomach and ran his finger through the stitches. He pointed at Henry.

"You. Where am I?"

"Y..you.. are.. Rebels… HQ…" Henry was too scared to create structured sentences.

"Have I regenerated?" He felt his eyebrows "…nope, doesn't feel like I have. Good. I'm growing to like this body, a bit old, but does the job." He paced around the room and took off the x ray sheet off the light board on the wall.

"Hey, they can't just look inside me without permission, that's rude!" He felt his forehead. "Ah, much better. Nothing to stop me from thinking. Good. Very very good." He had a very funny accent.

Henry left the room and went back to Miere's. He locked the door and hid behind Miere's hospital bed.

There was a green light outside and the door clicked open.

"I missed the sound of my sonic screwdriver. Glad I took it with me." He crouched down and looked directly at Henry with his pale blue eyes. "Hey, you! You let me down. That's not nice. I haven't had someone to talk to for… 5 months, 24 days 13 hours 29 minutes and 2 seconds. Jeez, that's a long time. I need answers from you. But first, here. Would you like a jelly baby?" He took out a cigarette case packed with jelly babies from his pocket. Henry inched towards a wall. He secretly pressed on the assistance button. This man was mad!

"Where's this place? And this time, don't stutter like an idiot." He said.

"Doctor, you're awake?" The door opened and Mary came in with a bunch of nurses. He backed away. Mary gave him a hug, which he quickly broke away from.

"I'm not really comfortable with pudding brained nurses and doctors right now. Can you please tell them to go away?" Mary nodded and dismissed the nurses and the doctors.

"Are you okay? How are you standing? You were in a deep coma a few minutes ago."

"Medically induced coma. Wanted to do that when they were testing on me but couldn't because they had the inhibitor in my brain. Was not very nice. Once the poisonous substance was out of my system, I woke myself up. Thank you for that by the way." He turned around to face both Mary and Henry.

"Now, my turn for questions. Where's Clara? I saw her escape… Well, probably her, not sure if it was. My brain was being controlled by the pudding brains in lab coats, I couldn't think straight." Mary and Henry avoided his gaze. The Doctor breathed out a long sigh.

"Of course not." His shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"I'm sorry Doctor." Mary wanted to say so much more. She had saved her son and many others. When she had seen the result from the blood analysis, she was disappointed. It was human blood. 100% human, with traces of time abnormalities. Seeing the photos of the trail of blood ending with the pool of blood made her sick. It had been frozen. She shook the memories away.

"You know more, but I don't want to know what happened." The Doctor softly and sadly said. He changed the topic.

"Now, who is she and why is she asleep?" He said pointing at Miere.

"That's just my friend. They experimented on her before the rebels could rescue us." He paused, blocking all the memories of him being experimented on. He read Miere's patient file.

"Right, but why is she asleep? I mean, she's human plus, the non-sleeping kind. Genetically modified! Therefore, she doesn't need sleep."

"We couldn't figure it out. All her levels are normal. There's nothing wrong with her. But we can't wake her up from her coma." Mary replied.

"Hmm." The Doctor was deep in thought. He placed his hands on her temples.

"What are you…" Henry tried to stop him but the Doctor replied with "shush."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The Doctor looked around. He was in the midst of a snowstorm in a knee-deep snow. It was noisy and very confusing. He had never seen a person's mind this bad. Everything was muddled up. He realised that the snow of the snow storm was not actual snow, just fragmented memories shredded up, her desperate attempts to forget the past.

"Hello?" He screamed, but his voice was swallowed in the snowstorm. He could see a small flickering orange campfire nearby. He struggled in the knee-deep snow to get there. There was a small fire inside a cave. There was a girl toasting marshmallows. She smiled at the fire. The fire was made up of the happy memories. The Doctor saw her in a festival with a younger version of Henry looking at the stars, laughing.

"Who are you?" She looked up after a while.

"I'm the Doctor." Her face was casted with fear. She backed away.

"P..p..ppleease go away. I don't want any more Doctors."

"I'm not a Doctor, people just call me the Doctor, I call myself the Doctor too. I'm here to wake you up. You're in a coma." He said, slowly approaching her.

"I know I'm in a coma. And no, you will not wake me up. Do not wake me up. Everyone is going to die if I do." She said in a warning tone.

"Why?" He asked, confused. Miere stopped in front of him and placed her forehead on his. A white light blinded him.

_"No! Cl…" Henry covered Miere's mouth before she could say her name. He whispered, "Not here. They'll recognise her." Miere nodded with her tear filled eyes._

_"What are they going to do to her?" Miere looked into Henry's eyes with sorrow._

_"No idea. I'm sure she'll be fine. You saw how she took down the soldiers." Miere knew he was lying._

_Miere was afraid. This place reminded her of where she grew up. Lots of needles and lots of pain. Suddenly, their trackers were buzzing. "They're coming!" Henry said. They both sighed in reliefand hugged each other in joy. Suddenly, Miere was roughly pulled off from Henry._

_"You're coming with us." The soldier said taking her arm. Miere was terrified. Her face went pale. What were they going to do to her? _

_"Wait, where are you taking her?" Henry asked bravely._

_"None of your business." They struck Henry's solar plexus with the butt of the gun. He stumbled onto the ground spluttering. "Henry!" Miere yelled, but they lifted her up onto their shoulder and took her to a lab. _

_In the middle, there was a table with restraints. As she was dragged into the middle, she saw the torturous devices laying on the tray on the edge of the room. The same ones she saw back when she was a child. Her heart beat faster. It was as if she couldn't breathe. All her nightmares came flooding back into her again. She kneeled in pain. They lifted her up, placed her onto the table and tied her limbs together. Her struggles and screams were smothered with an injection. The injection they gave her whenever they needed answers._

_"Hello Miere." An all-too familiar voice echoed in her ears. "…or should I say… subject 012?" He cackled. "You were my best subject. Pity we had to start all over again. A failed test. We needed obedient little kids, not rebelling spoiled brats like you. You almost ruined my life. Blackoff nearly killed me when he found out you were still alive. But not again." He wheeled bags of IV drips next to her and connected all of them to her arms. _

_"I need some answers from you."_

_"Yes master." She automatically said, which disgusted her._

_"Who is the girl? The feisty one?"_

_"Her name is Cl…" She bit her lips. She wasn't going to give her friend away._

_"Tell me NOW." His voice boomed. He punched her over and over, but all she did was shake her head._

_"Ooh, you've learnt how to control yourself. Don't fear, my dear. It's okay. If you haven't noticed, I'm embedding some state-of-the-art technology into your body." He cackled maniacally. He place another truth serum into her bloodstream._

_Miere closed her eyes, focusing on controlling her mind._

_"Now, are you working with the rebels?"_

_"Yes, master." She couldn't help herself._

_"Good girl. Where is their HQ?" _

_Miere shook her head and bit her tongue. Dizziness was starting to kick in and was making her thinking fuzzy. But she had to hold back. Back in the lab, she remembered the kids singing to divert the pain or the need to talk. She diverted her willingness to a song. She started singing random tunes._

_The man rolled his eyes. "Always happens to the faulty subjects." _

_Miere continued singing, but she was terrified. Nothing could stop her heart from beating that fast. "Oh, shut up." He injected another batch into her neck. Her vocal chords suddenly stopped working. She heard someone else come in._

_"Oh, hello sir, what an honour." The man was clearly very excited._

_"So, what is she going to be used as?" His deep, dark voice boomed out._

_"A tracking bomb sir. The IV is placing the Nanobots which will work as a GPS tracker and create chemicals to react against her body cells. The good thing about subject 012 is that she was built to last forever without sleep. These bombs only work when the subjects are awake because the bombs need enough brain activity for it to power itself." Miere felt drills grinding against her skull. She winced in pain. The man continued. "When the subjects are awake, we can use them as a GPS and a remote control bomb. Before we go in, we'll use her to detonate the controls for their communication system." _

_"Good. Keep working on it." The deep-voiced man left. The scientist continued working on whatever he was doing to her skull. She bit her tongue in pain as she felt blood coating the back of her head. The sadistic man was humming as if she was just a machinery._

_Suddenly, the alarms stared blaring. The power went down._

_"But. I'm not done yet!" He started hammering down the controls in her head. She screamed, but the only thing that came out was her breath._

_"Just about done. Not sure if it's going to have a proper explosion, but oh well, close enough." He said into his communicator. He ran out of the lab, trying to hide before the rebels were coming. Miere tried to speak, but nothing came out. She had to fall asleep before someone came and took her to the HQ. There was a tray right next to her. There was multiple syringes containing the truth serum. She had another flashback to her childhood. _

_There was a boy who was captured again after escaping the lab. He was in the room before her and had refused to talk. His lips were bleeding from biting it so hard. They already had two doses in him. They placed another one in him and he fell asleep. He didn't wake up until two months later and when he did, he had forgotten how to talk, walk, go to toilet or how to eat food. He was deemed useless and was thrown in the incinerator. She looked at the syringes. They were definitely bigger than the ones they had in the lab. She'd had two doses, so she calculated that if she had two more, she would go in a much longer sleep than that boy did, or better, die._

_She struggled with the restraints. Then she dislocated her thumb rather painfully, slipped it out of the cuff, and injected herself quickly with the two syringes. She spiralled into darkness._

_oOoOOoOoOoOoO_

"Do you see why I can't wake up?" Miere said, sitting on a rock.

The Doctor was speechless. "You're a bomb." He gasped. He continued. "Your calculation was wrong. You're going to wake up any second now, I can feel it. The chemical is almost gone. I think it's because you've been modified to metabolise foreign chemicals quickly. I thought I've run out of ways to hate them. I was wrong." Miere covered her face and started sobbing.

"Everyone is going to die, and it's going to be my fault."

The Doctor looked her into the eyes. "Miere, listen to me. I'm a Time Lord. I can place you into a psychically induced coma. But I need to unlink, and you have to wake up by yourself. But before you do, can you focus on disabling the GPS for at least few seconds? Keep your mind blank. Don't think of anything as you wake up. I need the time to place the coma on you. I'll be very quick, I promise."

Miere nodded.

"Will I be lonely?" She said, turning around. "Will it be like this?"

The Doctor paused. He closed his eyes. "Do you want someone to be with you?" He gently asked.

Miere nodded. He looked at her with his kind, old eyes and smiled. "I'll introduce you to my friend… Well, not technically my friend, but he'll take you to amazing places… probably."

Miere gave him a sad smile.

"By the way Doctor. Tell Henry not to worry about me." Miere said. He nodded.

"Ready?" The Doctor said. Miere nodded. The Doctor prepared himself as he disconnected.

oOoOoOoOooOoOoOoOo

The Doctor stumbled back with a gasp. He was panting. Miere slowly opened her eyes.

"Miere!" Henry touched her face. The Doctor pushed him away and placed a hand on her forehead again. She was pushed back into sleep.

"NO! What did you do? She was awake!" Henry screamed.

"Mary, don't let her wake up at all costs." The Doctor ignored Henry.

"Why?" Mary said, confused.

"She has a tracker and a bomb embedded in her that will activate the second she wakes up. Once it's activated, it will give Blackoff the location of the Rebels' HQ and disable any communication between the Rebels. Now, I understand this place is supposed to be kept secret? The second she's awake, you won't even have a place to keep secret anymore. And as for you, Henry. If she wakes up, none of us, including Miere, will be alive to see each other."

Henry was devastated. He grabbed onto Miere's lifeless hands in sadness. The Doctor placed his hand on his shoulder in sympathy. The Doctor suddenly felt bad for sounding so hostile.

"I'm sorry Henry." He said with care.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Miere was sitting in the cave again. The campfire had smothered which made the cave very dark. She was alone. Sadness greeted her.

"Hello." She heard a cheerful voice from her side.

"Marshmallow? The pink ones are the best." The man grinned. Suddenly, they were in a big, warm wooden lodge. There was a blue phone box standing in the corner of the wall. The fire was blazing in the fireplace and there was a comfortable couch. The man sat down and asked her to join.

"Hello Miere, I'm the Doctor." The Doctor said, flicking his cowlick and adjusting his bow tie.


	13. Chapter 12: The Gauntlet

**Thanks to ProEllusionist, bgeiner and Gleame for the reviews :D**

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><p><em>"Hello Miere, I'm the Doctor." The Doctor said, flicking his cowlick and adjusting his bow tie. <em>

The Doctor's memory flickered and they were back in the void between the two machines again.

"I'm sorry… for whatever you saw." The Doctor apologised, looking at the ground.

"Sorry for what? The fact that they tortured you? How much of this were you keeping away from me? Please tell me you were forced to remember this from this helmet thing… Please tell me you weren't bottling all this up after Preevos." Clara said as she placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder, gazing into his eyes with sorrowful eyes.

"I knew…" He whispered, voice almost inaudible to Clara's ears. "I knew some of it. I had no need to share it with you. You'd forgotten it all anyway. You wanted your past struggles to go away and it did. For me, I tried doing the same, but it reoccurred. Like that nightmare of yours that kept plaguing you every night after Preevos."

"Right, these hidden memories… why are they uncovering them anyway? Why don't we just leave them alone like we did or the last few years? They're not very nice." Clara frowned trying not to think about the nightmares she had constantly had.

The Doctor sighed.

"The Psyon disease. It's a parasitic infection that occurs in your brain. The parasites create a nest inside your brain and rearranges your brain cells to suit its biology. It feeds off the chemical produced in the process and your brain disappears, bit by bit, until the babies hatch, devouring what is left of your brain. It was a fatal disease until the Universal Health Organisation eradicated in the 42nd century. The cure was found to be a radiation beaming machine, targeted at the nest, killing off the controller which metaphorically 'switches off' the incubator for the eggs." He held Clara's hand gently. "That was the good news. The bad news was that some idiot back in Preevos, managed to successfully recreate this parasite using the last remaining strands of its DNA. They were originally going to use it to control their population. Remember the earplugs? It had its venom inserted in it for them to be under Blackoff's control."

"And why do we need this helmet to remind us of the past?" Clara asked. "I don't want to see more of what Preevos did to me… to us. I was better not knowing." The Doctor saw a tiny glint of tear in her eyes.

"Remembering the past is the side effects to the Spari mind helmets. What we are trying to do is to find the exact time and spot when and how they've infected you. They're like landing lights. At the moment, this landing light is covered by a blizzard. A blizzard you've created to hide the past. I need the snow storm to go away so that I can find the landing lights to shoot the radiation beam at the exact spot without damaging other parts of your brain." He squeezed her hand tightly. "It's going to be all okay. We're nearly there. We just have a little under 5 months of our stay in Preevos. I'll turn off the mind helmets as soon as I've found the source. I promise. Okay?" He promised in a gentle tone. Clara hesitantly nodded.

"What does the parasite do? What does it… do to their hosts?" Clara looked at him with fear scattered in her eyes. The Doctor sighed in sadness.

"First is just small things. Forgetting small things like where you've placed your coffee mug, if you've done the dishes and whatnot. Then, they target your body. It's painful and straining for your brain. It has to try fight off this invader while overlooking your whole body. The signal to your body gets slower, and you become clumsier, such as dropping things and falling over. As last resort, your brain tries to shut down and reboot your body. That's when the collapsing comes in. Then, you start forgetting who you are, what you are and how to function. Everything will start slowing down until your brain is forced to hibernate and try fixing whatever is wrong with you. Then… you die. Your mind dies… your body is left as a feeding ground for the newly hatched Psyons."

"And where am I at the moment? In regards to the stages of this disease." Clara demanded an answer. The Doctor paused, shaking his head. "Tell me, please, Doctor." Clara begged.

"… You're on the last stage. Your body has shut down and pulled you into a deep coma. That's why I came in. The Spari helmet couldn't continue searching for the source because it processed your 'death' on the mountain as the end of your memory. It started draining everything else, going back to your childhood and sorting all the known memories. I came in replace your memory with mine so that it could reconfigure the timeline and continue on its track." Suddenly, the dim light in the void flickered. The Doctor's face brightened. "And it seems that it has found the next lot of your hidden memories."

"Doctor, one more thing before I go." Clara said.

"Yes? What is it?" The Doctor asked.

"If this is a stream of my memories, why do I keep seeing other people's timelines? They're obviously not my memories… but I keep seeing glimpses of them." Before the Doctor could answer, Clara faded out of the void, back into her past memories.

The Doctor's smile disappeared.

"Because, Clara, that's your memory as well." He mysteriously smiled, as the background changed to Clara's memories.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Clara woke up as a big, fluffy dog licked her face. She saw a warm fire blazing nearby. Someone had dressed her in satin white pajamas. She looked around the place confused. Was this heaven? With dogs? The last memory was her staring up into the cold, night sky, bleeding out on the snow covered mountain. She looked at her stomach but saw no bullet wounds. She realised all her past scars, from Vlakos and Preevos had gone as well. She left the room and slowly walked downstairs. The dog zoomed past barking. She heard someone humming in what looked like a kitchen. Smell of sweet bread filled the house.

"Hello?" Clara called, still very fuzzy and confused.

"Oh, hello! Did Bobby wake you? Sorry about that. He's ever too excited. Oh, do you want some soufflé? I heard you like them very much." A kind looking old woman with silvery white hair said as she took out a tray of soufflés from an oven.

"Nice to meet you, Clara. My name is Joanne." She enthusiastically shook her hand after taking her oven mitts off.

"Where am I?" Clara asked. She patted the friendly, fluffy dog.

"Somewhere safe." Joanne gave a genuine smile.

"I was dying." Clara scratched her head. "Am I in heaven? Is this what it looks like? With dogs? ...and souffles?" She stared at the familiar old woman's face. "I remember you!" Clara exclaimed. She was the woman who she had met in the sky lounge with Theo. "You were with Theo!"

"Didn't I tell you we will meet each other again?" She winked. "Now. I need to show you some important things. We can do it while the Souffle cools down." She led her to a hologram screen and continued. "A long time ago, there was a war between the Preeonians and the humans. It raged on and on and was on the verge of destroying the whole planet. It happened so long that everyone had already forgotten why they were fighting in the first place. When the Goddess, who was a traveller from another world, arrived at Preevos, she set things straight on both sides and taught them peace. Before she disappeared, she gave the four overlooking families with an artefact each to aid them in keeping peace. The four families were: The Tempus, Tropicento, Onstara and Robur families. The Tempus family received a pocket watch as the time keepers of Hope. They were the prophets of the future. Tropicento family was the protectors of Hope. They were given the force field ring to protect the ones in need. Robur family were the royals. They were given a book filled with stories to pass through their family." Joanne smiled. "Onstara family were the healers of the village. They were given a healing gauntlet to heal the world." She paused and continued. "I am the descendant of the Onstara family."

She showed her a piece of paper with scribbles. "The Tempus family warned us of another apocalypse in the future. They predicted that a misunderstood traveller will join them on the brink of war and stop the evil." Joanne gave a kind smile. "When you first arrived at Preevos, Theo invited you to the Sky lounge. The descendants of the three families had met up then to discuss the oncoming apocalypse. The Robur family is unfortunately all gone, the artefact disappeared with the assassination of the king few hundred years ago. That day, Theodore had seen you walking out of the blue box and knew that you were the Traveller. There are many versions of this legend, but there is one that said that the wielder of the blue box from another unthinkable world is the Traveller who will save Preevos from its destruction. The Traveller calls a planet once lost yet found again a home, and has had many lives and many faces."

"The TARDIS? No, no, no, I don't own that. My friend, the Doctor does. I think you've got the wrong person. The 'prophecy' sound much more like it describes the Doctor than it does of me. My planet isn't lost, it's still there waiting for me. I've only had one life and one face. I'm nothing special. I didn't even know Preevos existed until I arrived here. I'm just a mere human fancying an adventure now and then." Clara said frowning.

Joanne gave a mysterious smile. "Don't ever say you're not special. Everyone is special in their own way, including you Clara." She continued. "I don't care if you don't think you're the Traveller, I still would like to teach you how to use the gauntlet. You will need it for your travels and perhaps, when you meet your friend." She brought a golden, and silvery gauntlet. It seemed very heavy when she held it but when she wore it, it was very light and flexible, almost as if she wasn't wearing anything.

"The gauntlet gives you healing powers. If you learn the ways, you'll be able to use it to heal people."

"Is that what you used to heal me?" Clara asked, placing her hand on her stomach. Joanne nodded.

"Yes. It was. Now, I'm guessing the families have already given you all the artefacts?" She beamed.

"No…. I only have one with me right now, the watch." She awkwardly avoided Joanne's gaze.

Joanne's face fell. "What?"

"Well, I've never heard of the book until now, and I gave the ring to a little boy to protect him from the soldiers."

Joanne's face went red, then she exhaled, calming herself down. "Oh well, that's a shame. I hope the boy didn't lose it or something. That would not good." She continued. "The artefacts, the power becomes stronger if you have all of them because the power source is interconnected. Anyway, it's okay. You have the watch. That means less items to find. Follow me."

They went into a pitch black room. When the lights turned on, the black walls softly illuminated with green grids.

"What is this place?"

"It's a hologram room. I'm going to get you to practice your skills here."

An injured animal appeared.

"Concentrate on the wound. Imagine it weaving itself closed." She instructed.

Clara did as she was told and the wounds closed shut with a scar. As she learnt how to use it, she realised how easy it was to use the healing gauntlet.

The training process went on. The last hologram practice was quite challenging. There were a group of people who all needed emergency aid.

"Imagine touching all of them at once. Expand your psychic powers." She explained.

She succeeded in her last scenario. Bobby came up and licked her in happiness.

"Now what?" Clara asked, ruffling Bobby's fur.

"Come outside. But before that, get something warm on." She smiled.

When Clara went outside the lodge, she saw the forest canopy covered in snow stretching till her eyes can see. Bobby zoomed around playing in snow. He barked signalling her to hurry up. Clara smiled. She followed him to a flat, circular pad on the floor. The pad was etched in something that looked like circular Gallifreyan.

"Hang on, that looks like Gallifreyan? Why is there Gallifreyan on the ground?"

"Really? I thought it was just a pattern of circles. Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's something to do with Gallifrey. After all, Preeonians were very close to Galllifreyans. We were called twin Gallifrey in the olden days." Joanne shrugged.

Clara paused and smiled. 'Oh, you stupid old man. You just couldn't resist showing me a place that looked like Gallifrey, couldn't you?' She looked on the snowy ground just realising how much she missed him. So long had passed since she saw him. It broke her heart.

"There is a secret teleport that can be activated with the items. I was zooming around last night when Bobby saw you bleeding out in the forest ground. I don't usually go to the town. I like being alone. But I realised from you running away from the soldiers that the apocalypse had already started." Joanne held her hand and they teleported somewhere deep in the forest.

"Watch your feet. There is a lot of traps in this area." She warned.

Clara spotted a deer trapped and injured in one of the traps. She undid the trap and fixed her wound. "Here you go, be careful where you tread next time. It's a dangerous world out here." Clara whispered as the deer ran away.

Joanne tapped her shoulder and placed her fingers on her mouth. She was pointing at the soldiers going past. They were wearing a black mast and a black overall. To Clara's surprise, Joanne quickly dragged her to the moonlight penetrating to the forest floor.

"What are you doing?!" She whispered. Joanne covered Clara's mouth.

They stopped. One stared towards Clara and Joanne. "Did you hear something?" he asked another.

"Probably just wildlife. Come on. The escapee is somewhere close. We don't want to lose her again." They shrugged and skimmed past Clara. Clara held her breath. They were looking for her.

Clara and Joanne cautiously followed them through the spots of moonlight until the two soldiers separated. When they were given a chance, Joanne swiftly took off the gauntlet from Clara's hand and put it on hers. She skilfully placed it on the side of a soldier's ear and he fell down.

"What did you do?!" She yelled and quickly placed a hand on her mouth. Joanne plucked an earpiece from the man's ear. She took out a long rod with a little button on top and pressed it on him. He vaporised from sight. Clara looked horrified.

"Not a good place to chit chat here. Come on." Joanne said as she dragged Clara to a concealed round teleport pad on the forest ground. She activated it and they were back home.

"You killed him!" Clara exclaimed in horror.

"Clara, calm down." Joanne backed up.

"You're going to tell me what you did, right now, right here." Clara fumed in anger. She trusted her. She thought she had finally met someone trustworthy, until she killed him.

Joanne sighed as she took the gauntlet off. She placed it on the moonlight lit ground and stepped backwards. The gauntlet disappeared.

"Where… where did it go?" Clara stammered, momentarily forgetting about the man. Joanne picked it up and the gauntlet reappeared again.

"It's still there. It's one of its properties. It hides you from sight if you are under the moonlight. All the items, the watch, ring, gauntlet and the book, they are all interconnected and are stronger under the moonlight. In addition to that, it hides the wearer from sight, because of their low level psychic force field. In Preevos, the moonlights signify peace and harmony because the moonlight was used to end the war and give everyone peace back in the civil war."

"But how is that connected to you killing that soldier?" Clara snapped.

"Didn't you think it's odd? Preeonians believe that peace is everything in their lives. They have days to celebrate it, even a religion using the Goddess' stories. They are basically grown up believing in it. Now, why and how do you think Blackoff was able to create an army to destroy this core belief? Given by the scars in your ear, you've experienced it too." Joanne said holding the little silvery ear piece in front of Clara.

"The ear plugs! They control the army! And you took them off the soldier?" She said, touching the little scar she hadn't noticed in her ear. "Then, what was that thing that vaporised him?" Clara questioned.

"Handheld Teleporters." She held one up. Clara remembered seeing those in the bank of Karabraxos. "It directly transports the person to my house. The soldier is now probably recovering in the bedroom, the same way you arrived here." She smiled.

A man, still wearing the black helmet covering his face, opened the doors rubbing his head. "Where am I? I was… I was inside a grey cell. How did I get here?"

"Ah. Hello, my name is Joanne and this is Clara. Can you remember your…" Joanne stopped mid-sentence as the man took the helmet off. Joanne dropped the gauntlet in shock.

"Joanne? Clara? What am I doing here?" The young, handsome face was revealed.

"…Theo?" Clara covered her mouth.

They were back in the kitchen. Joanne gave both of them a mug of tea each and was preparing a light snack. Theo patted Bobby's smooth fur. "Hello Bobby, I've missed you so much. Yes I have." Bobby gave a friendly bark. Clara smiled at the view. He turned to Clara.

"Clara… I'm so sorry." Clara looked up from the tea cup.

"For… what?"

"For not being there. I should have been there to tell them that you were innocent. That you were with me. I really had no idea they were actually going to send you to Vlakos. All the things they did to you. It must have been horrible."

Clara sighed. She would deny it, but it was the truth. For so many days, she blamed herself and Theo for everything that she suffered in Vlakos, even the separation from the Doctor.

"I'm sorry too." Clara replied.

"Why?" Theo asked.

"For being angry with you. I had no idea the president was your mother."

Theo looked away. "It's okay." He whispered.

"You know, I was angry at first. I was angry that I chose to go with you, when I could have been with the Doctor and nothing would have happened. We would have just walked away, and I wouldn't have been in this mess. But I'm glad. I learnt so much there. The first few weeks were harsh. It was almost unbearable. But as time went on, I made friends. Friends who looked after me. I also met a person who taught me how to protect my loved ones." The image of John dying filled her head, and she looked away.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. We're all here now. We're going to fix this. We'll stop Blackoff from destroying Preevos." Theo smiled.

"Theo, are you ready?" Joanne interrupted as she handed him a black backpack. Theo turned around. "Ah, are all the things in there?" Joanne nodded.

"Here's the dummy earplugs. You won't be affected by it again. Are you sure you're still up for this?" Joanne asked.

"What, are you going somewhere?" Clara questioned.

"Well, I'm going undercover. Well, I was undercover before, until they used the ear plugs on me. I didn't expect them to go that far. I've been penetrating Blackoff's party, one by one. Slowly climbing the ranks to infiltrate their core group. I'll be able to continue my mission now that the earplug is not controlling me."

"You can't! You can die in there!" Clara yelled.

"It's either me or the whole of Preevos. I'm fine with losing my life. I have nothing else to lose. I'm not fine with losing thousands of innocent lives because of my selfishness. Also, I wouldn't want to lose you." Theo approached her and pretended to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Clara, don't trust Joanne. Run away from here." Theo whispered into her ears, instead of kissing her.

"See you when I see you." He gave her a smile as he pushed a button on his military uniform. He vanished from sight.

Clara stood there stunned. Don't trust Joanne? Why not? She stared at Joanne.

Joanne smiled. "I think someone really fancies you." She chuckled. "Theo's such a romantic." She had no idea what Theo had just said to her.

Clara chuckled weakly. "…yeah." She whispered.

Joanne then changed the topic. "Oh yes, I need to teach you how to use the teleports. Tonight, we'll have a wander around again. Get some rest."

When she got on the bed, Bobby jumped on the bed with her.

"Bobby, off!" Joanne told him off. "Bad dog!" Bobby whimpered and jumped off the bed. "Good night Clara." Joanne said sweetly and she turned the lights off. When the door closed Clara looked at Bobby, grudgingly curled up on the carpet floor.

"Oh, Bobby, you can sleep with me. Come up." Clara said.

Bobby shook his tail and jumped up the bed, snuggling next to Clara. He licked Clara's nose as a form of thanks.

"You're welcome." Clara said, falling asleep while cuddling the fluffy dog.

Halfway through the night, Bobby woke Clara by licking her furiously.

"Bobby!" Clara said drowsily. Bobby dropped the golden gauntlet in front of her and tugged her leg.

"Do you want to go somewhere?"

Bobby whimpered as a form of yes. Bobby crawled under the bed and dragged a little torch out using his paws.

Clara sneaked downstairs, careful not to wake Joanne up. He led her through the snow covered forest lit by the small torchlight. Bobby brought her to a small abandoned lodge completely covered in snow. When she opened the door, she gasped in horror.

"Theo!"

Theo laid on the cold, wooden floor, clutching onto his shoulder with his bloodied hands.

"Clara… Please. Run away before she takes a hold of you." He breathed harshly. "She's worse… worse than Blackoff. She'll turn you… turn you into… a machine."

"No, Theo, stop talking. Save your breath. I'm not going to let you die." She used all her powers through the healing gauntlet. She started feeling weak and woozy but she didn't care. She was not going to see another person die. Despite her efforts, Theo closed his eyes in pain.

"Theo, please! Stay with me!" Clara started tearing up. Theo reached for his pocket and gave her a neatly folded piece of paper. When she gently took it off his hands, the hand dropped lifelessly and he breathed out his last breath.

"No." She crumpled onto the floor in grief. Who could have done this? Clara gently lifted Theo's clothing to see the red streaks on his shoulder. It was wide open and pulsing in blue and green. 'Poison?' Clara thought. Suddenly, a golden light shrouded them and Theo's body disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Clara stared at the blank space where Theo once was in confusion. The golden light… hadn't she seen it when Julia died? Maybe this was what happened to people who died on Preevos… some kind of a… life cycle thing.

Then her focus shifted to the little note Theo handed it to her. Sniffling, she frantically opened it with her cold hands. Maybe it was a clue to whatever was happening?

As the note opened, a hologram was projected on top of it.

"If you have received this note, you must be the Traveller. First of all, welcome to Preevos and I apologise for what is going to happen and what has already happened for you. It must be very hard times for you, and I am very sorry I am not there to guide you through your role safely. I also apologise for not greeting you in person. I am the last of the Onstara-Robur family, and it was supposed to be my duty to inform you of this terrible, terrible war. My life was cut short by the tyrant by the name of Dralan Blackoff. I must introduce myself first, my name is Joanne Onstara-Robur, my mother's side is from the royal family while my father's side is from the healers. My family has already been executed by Blackoff and their agents, and I fear it will be me next. But that's enough about me. The most important thing is you. You are the Traveller who will save Preevos from the devil…" The voice grew distant.

Clara opened her eyes. She realised she was still in the cold, wooden hut. Had she dozed off? Not far off her, there was a red, jewellery box. She slowly picked it up and opened it. A mental message entered her mind.

"Right, hello Clara, I'm Clara… Clara from your past, the past you won't remember. I just learnt the truth about what the Traveller is and what I'll be doing as the Traveller. All I need to say is that you have to trust me. Trust yourself. I know you have a gut feeling you can't trust Joanne. Even Theo told you not to trust her. But I'm telling you to trust her. Because you have to… at least till the end. When you reach your final destination, don't trust anyone, don't listen to anyone. You have to do what you think is right, and you'll be fine. The next few months will be hard. Harder than what you've experienced till now. But on my word, it will be worth it at the end. This ring box, contains my… your mum's ring. Don't touch it. When you get back, hand the box to Joanne and tell her that this will gain the trust of the Rebels. Don't worry, I was told that you will get it back when you've fulfilled your prophecy. I am sorry you'll wake up confused, but I have to delete this memory for the sake of myself… and yourself. Good luck Clara. You know that I believe in myself."


	14. Chapter 13: Who is Joanne?

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><p>When she got back to the house with Bobby, Joanne was waiting by the door.<p>

"I was worried sick for you! Where have you been?!" Joanne put her best mother's voice.

Clara confusedly handed her the ring box. "This box… it will help you gain the trust of the rebels… apparently."

Joanne nodded gratefully. "You knew already?" She asked.

"… Yeah. Mmhmm" Clara smiled and nodded, deciding to go with what Joanne was thinking of Clara.

"Thank you. Since you've figured out that I was going to ask you to join my crusade, we can skip all the explanation part out of it. We'll get some real practice out in the environment tomorrow." She smiled. "Now get to sleep. Proper sleep." Joanne said.

"Yes Ma'am." Clara yawned and slid back into her bed.

The next morning, Bobby woke her up.

"Oh hey, Bobby." She drowsily pat the dog.

After getting ready, Clara followed Bobby to the Teleporter pad.

As they zoomed around the teleport, Clara learnt where each teleport led to. The teleport pad network was massive and it allowed her easily to move from the one side of Preevos to the other. They roamed around various environments, from the forest in the middle of the mountain range, ice-cold deserts, the island on an ocean to small abandoned towns.

"How will I remember what leads to what?" Clara asked halfway inside a jungle.

"Your pocket watch, it will lead you to wherever you need to go." She smiled. She continued. "Come on. Let's go on. The next teleport is not far off. It will lead us back to the house." Joanne pointed.

Clara lead the way using the pocket watch hung on her neck.

Suddenly, Bobby started growling from behind her. "What's wrong Bobby?" Clara asked as she turned around. She saw a bright purple light hitting her face as she fell on the forest floor. Her eyes felt like it was burnt out and the high pitched buzzing replaced her sense of sound.

"Clara? You'll be okay Clara." A voice became distant as she blacked out.

Clara woke up on her bed again. She felt a soft material covering her eyes and ears. Her hand reached up and pulled on what seemed like bandage.

"Clara, you're awake! Thank god, I thought I lost you." It was Joanne's voice.

Clara groaned as the sharp pain in her eyes and burning sensation in her ears came to her in waves.

The pressure was lifted off as she felt the light reaching in her eyes. Very very bright lights. Too bright for her eyes.

"Give it a second. Keep your eyes open. It's calibrating." Joanne said.

"Calibrating?" Clara croaked out.

"Did I say calibrating? I meant readjusting." Joanne forced out a laugh.

Sure enough, her visions were back in a few seconds. She sat up, holding her head, trying to relieve the headache she was experiencing. "What happened?" Clara asked.

"We were ambushed. You were shot on your face with a laser bullet and fell unconscious. A lucky shot. I teleported you and I back into the house before they kidnapped us."

"Thanks." Clara smiled. Her smile suddenly disappeared. "Where's Bobby?"

"He…" Joanne teared up. "He… was shot too." She wiped her tears and continued. "He died receiving the second and third blow that was directed at you." She looked away.

Clara sat there, stunned. Bobby died saving her. A dog sacrificed his life for a human who he'd known for no more than a few days. "I'm sorry." Clara said to Joanne. "He must have been your closest friend."

Joanne looked down in sadness. "He was." She sniffled.

After a moment of silence, Joanne spoke. "Well, I'm going to leave you to recover. You had a nasty burn on your face but I managed to heal it all up. I just need some time for myself. For Bobby."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

_"How will I remember what leads to what?" Clara asked halfway inside a jungle._

_"Your pocket watch, it will lead you to wherever you need to go." Joanne smiled. She continued. "Come on. Let's go on. The next teleport is not far off. It will lead us back to the house." Joanne pointed._

Joanne slowed down, making sure the she was behind Clara. Joanne grabbed onto the laser pistol she was hiding in her belt. Bobby realised what she was doing and started growling.

"What's wrong Bobby?" Clara asked as she turned around.

Before Clara could see what was happening, Joanne shot her right on her eyes. Clara lifelessly dropped on the forest floor.

"Clara? You'll be okay Clara." Joanne said crouching beside her to check her pulse.

Bobby started barking and pounced on Joanne in his anger. He roughly bit on her wrist.

"Get off, you stupid dog!" She yelled as she shot Bobby repeatedly. Bobby yelped receiving the first few blows but went silent after a few more.

Joanne dumped Bobby on the forest floor as she scooped up Clara's lifeless body. She reached the teleporter and teleported them right into her bedroom. She laid Clara down on her bed.

"Now, Miss Oswald, let's see if you are really the Traveller." She smirked.


	15. Chapter 14: The Promise

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><p><strong>Rebel HQ<strong>

The Doctor was alone in his quarters, strategically planning about which labour camps to rescue next. Ever since he escaped, he had helped to increase the amount of people working for the rebels from just a small place under Hope to all across Preevos. They had more than 500 headquarters around Preevos, all dedicated to rescue victims of Blackoff's horrifying causes and thwarting his plans to take over Preevos. When he had the next plan of action figured out, the Doctor visited Mary's quarter for a chat.

The Doctor knocked the door. Seeing as the door was slightly ajar, he entered the room. Mary was not there, but all her paperwork were neatly stacked on her table in a pile. The Doctor started reading the documents from the pile when he spotted a flat, brown envelope sticking out from a drawer. After looking around to see that Mary was not around, he opened the envelope.

Few photos of a blood trail on the snow fell out onto the floor. There were used bullet shells zip locked in an evidence bag. The Doctor sniffed the bullets.

"These tried to penetrate a force field." He muttered to himself. He then took out the results from the blood analysis they ran.

"Doctor, what are you…" Mary dropped the mug of tea she was holding in her hand. He had found the one secret she was dreading to tell. She could see the Doctor's hand trembling. Was that from the shock? Was that from his rage? She couldn't tell as his back was turned against her. But she knew about a Time Lord's rage, and closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She opened her eye in shock. His even tone scared Mary even more. He was so calm… he looked so in control.

"I wasn't sure you could handle it. I couldn't bear seeing you being heartbroken." Mary explained with voice like a mouse, looking at the ground in shame.

"What were her chances of survival?" He asked. Mary kept silent. "COULD SHE HAVE SURVIVED THIS? ANSWER ME!" Mary flinched as the Doctor raised his voice. "…please." He pleaded with his sad eyes, covering his face in disappointment and sadness.

"…no." She whispered. "The amount of blood on the snow indicated that she lost at least 50% of her blood. She would have died either from the loss of blood or hypothermia. No one could have survived a wound like this."

"Where's her body?" He hissed. "I need to see the body. I need to get her back, I don't care how. She was my responsibility."

"We couldn't find her body. We found the end of the blood trail, but there were no signs of a body, nor the sign of anyone else." She replied.

"Where is it? Where was the blood found? I'm going there right now." He said, walking briskly back to his quarters to put his coat on. He angrily snatched the files from Mary and teleported out before Mary could have a word with him.

He came back the day later, distraught.

"There was nothing." He said with disappointment in his eyes. "No bodies, no signs of life, no nothing." He sighed sadly. "But you know what that means?" He said to Mary. "Clara still might be out there somewhere." He said. "Make sure I'm not disturbed until I say so. Humans and Preeonians don't have a right to speak to me right now." He slammed the door to his quarters and locked it so that he wasn't disturbed by any humans. He threw everything on his table on the ground in his rage. He sank down to his chair and cried into his hands.

"I know you're alive, Clara. I just know it. I'll find you. If you're dead, I'll bring you back to life." That was a sincere promise of the Time Lord. "I promise."

oOoOooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**Wooden lodge – somewhere in Preevos.**

"Morning!" Joanne called out.

Clara slowly inched downstairs holding her head. "I have… this terrible headache." She groaned.

"Probably because you were shot… on the head. It will pass, don't worry." Joanne said, briefly looking over her. "Anyway, I think you are ready."

"Ready for what?" She questioned.

"Ready to save your friends from the war against Blackoff." Joanne smiled. "It's about time we took down Blackoff's government." Joanne took her to a room with a gigantic computer screen. She turned it on and some kind of map popped up.

"This is a map of Preevos. Over the years, I have marked secret concentration camps Blackoff has been running and marking more as they created more. Tonight we'll go there." She pointed at a red dot in a map. "It's a labour camp close to one of the teleports and it's relatively small in scale."

"What, just two people?" Clara asked. Joanne smiled.

"One. Just you. I'll be here, monitoring you."

Clara's eyes widened.

"What?! Have you been to these places? It's impossible to penetrate even the outer wall with a whole army. Let alone one person!" Clara raised her voice.

"I believe in you. Remember to walk around where there moonlights shine and you should be fine. Also… this." Joanne handed her a silky purple cloak. "This cloak is made with perception filter built into it. People won't notice you with this on. With this, you would be able to walk in and out of the place with ease."

"What do I do in there? How can I single-handedly take them down?" Clara asked.

"Your ears are equipped with an implant. I'll tell you step by step through that."

"You placed an implant in me without asking me?" Clara looked at her, deeply offended.

"No! No, when I found you, you already had an implant inside your ears. I'm guessing they've placed it in you while you were in the medical facility so that if you escape, they can use it as a tracker to find you. I couldn't take it off because it's dangerous to extract these from your body. But instead, I've turned the tracker to our advantage; blocking their signal and replacing it with ours."

Clara relaxed. "Sorry for judging you. Thank you." She said gratefully.

"Oh, I have a present for you." Joanne said as she disappeared into the doorway and brought back a box. Clara opened it to see a little pup. Clara gasped. The puppy had smooth golden fur and floppy ears, just like Bobby's. His eyes twinkled with curiosity and happiness.

"I know you were more upset about Bobby's death than I was." Joanne said. "He's not a replacement. He's never Bobby's replacement." She smiled. "When you come back from your missions, he'll always be waiting for you here."

"Thank you. I'm going to name him… Charlie." Clara smiled and hugged her. Joanne mysteriously smiled beyond Clara's shoulders.

"You'll leave tonight. You can have some time off with Charlie, get to know each other. I'll call you when the time comes." Joanne said.

Throughout the evening, Clara sat on the ledge of a boulder close to Joanne's house, playing with Charlie. The boulder overlooked the snow-covered forest that was now glistening in the lilac moonlight from the twin moons. Charlie sat calmly next to Clara, also watching the magnificent view. Even though Clara was glad that she'll help rescue and take down concentration camps, her mind was screaming her not to go. The images of her being beaten in Vlakos and seeing the misery of the concentration camp filled her mind. She looked at the moon trying to calm her thoughts.

"Hey Charlie." She ruffled his fur. Charlie gave a small bark and licked her hand in fondness. She smiled as she hugged the little pup, listening to the sleeping forest. "I wish this never happened. I know it's terrible, but I wish I didn't need to go to any labour camp at all. You wouldn't know because it's so peaceful here, but all that misery… it gets to you. I wish there was no such thing as bad guys and good guys. I am terrified. I saw the terrible things down at the medical camp and experienced some frightening things both at Vlakos and on Preevos. I wish I hadn't seen it. There was no hope, there was no happiness, only despair and grief. I've lost so many friends and seen so many get hurt." She hugged him. She gave him a sad smile. Charlie replied with a lick on her chin. "Before I arrived at Preevos, I believed in the Doctor. I believed that he was like a god of universe. I needed him. I fancied him because he was so charming in the way he does things. So heroic. But during my stay here, I realised he's not a god. He's not anything. He's just my friend, just a kind man who tries his best to make things better. I wish I could meet him again, I wish he could stop all this from happening, but now I know that such things won't happen. At Preevos, I lost the faith in the Doctor, and I gained faith in myself. Nothing will change if you depend on someone else. Everything will change if you try to change it." She hugged on the puppy tightly but not enough to hurt him. Charlie squirmed in her hug. She chuckled.

"My best friend, the Doctor, he's not from around here. Neither am I. We travel around the universe, seeing the stars, helping people. He used to have a ridiculous chin and a terrible dress sense. I fancied him. Then he changed his face and I didn't like him at first. But I grew to like him. He's the same man and I like him again for who he is. He doesn't like hugs just like you, which is a bit of a shame. I miss seeing him. People say he's dead but I know that he's alive. Part of my mind screams that I should find him and maybe, just by a miracle, rescue him. Another part off my mind is screaming to give up. That I'll never win the war and the Doctor is already dead. The thing is, Charlie. I don't want to go. I don't want to save the human race and I don't want to end the war. I just want to go home, go somewhere safe."

A shooting star zoomed across the night sky. Clara closed her eyes. 'Make a wish.' She made a wish and opened her eyes again.

"I know you're alive, Doctor. I just know it. I'll find you. If you're dead, I'll bring you back to life." Clara muttered, tear sliding from her eyes. "I promise."


	16. Chapter 15: The Betrayal

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><p>It was midnight. The moons were high up the sky and the forest floor was purple from the gentle light. Clara checked the backpack given by Joanne again. There were some food, a GPS, a map and a blueprint of the facility and a bottle of Retcon pills, just in case someone had seen her true self and she had to force them to forget. She didn't understand why she had to carry them since she could just scramble their memories using her psychic powers learnt from John. But Joanne was very insistent that she should carry it around, just in case. She was wearing the cloak and was treading lightly and timidly to the concentration camp.<p>

"Halt!" a man exclaimed. Clara's heart skipped a beat. She mentally calmed herself down. There was a soldier right behind her, obviously reporting for duty.

"Sorry I'm late sir, officer 4293 reporting for duty, sir!"

"You're five minutes late. Hurry up and start patrolling." The man scolded with his gruff voice.

"Sorry sir!" The soldier saluted again and started patrolling the building.

"Clara, can you hear me?" Joanne's voice echoed through the implant in her ear.

"Loud and clear." Clara whispered.

"Go to the Comms tower. I need you to take down their communication without setting off any alarms. When you do, I'll alert the rebels to be ready. I need you to go around the edges of the camp and take the psychic receivers down. Once you do, the ear pieces inside the soldiers' ears will malfunction and they will fall asleep. Once the rebel soldiers come in, you have to get out before they see you. Remmeber, we have to keep our operation secret from the rebels and Blackoff's army so the long term operation is more effective. No one can know of your real identity."

"Roger that." Clara responded. She started walking around the 'sleeping quarters,' which were inhumanely kept with terrible hygiene and safety. It was a freezing night and the people kept in there were only dressed with thin, raggy overalls, huddled up to stop themselves from freezing to death. There were children as small as a toddler all malnourished and scarred from the labour and punishment they received.

There was a girl who was shivering alone. Clara felt her head and felt the fever, yet her hands and feet were as stiff as leather and ice cold. She wheezed and breathed shakily. 'Pneumonia.' Clara thought. Clara silently walked up and healed her. She started walking off. The child opened her eyes.

"Julia?" It was almost a whisper. "Julia, it's Lizzie, your sister!"

Clara stopped. A flashback of Vlakos hit her.

"_I was an orphan. But I did have a sister called Lizzie_." She was the little sister of Julia, who had died in the mishaps of the poison leak in Vlakos.

Clara sat down next to her. "Lizzie, listen. Just imagine when the sun comes up tomorrow, you'll be in a warm place, safe from any danger. I knew your sister. Although she can't be here with you, she wanted to tell you that she loves you very very much."

"Why can't she be here?" She saw a tear forming in the little girl's eyes. "She promised she'll be back in 10 minutes. That was years ago. She said she finally found a job so we can get a new house and eat good food and wear pretty clothes. Why did she never come back?" Lizzie questioned.

_"If you find her, please don't tell her I died._ _Tell her that her sister loves her very much and she will always be looking out for her_._"_ Julia had once said beyond the deadlocked door.

"Because she's saving the world right now. She couldn't come back because bad people took her somewhere bad. But she's free now. She is now very busy travelling the world, taking down bad people and saving peoples' lives. She said when you're asleep, she'll always look out for you. She said she'll protect you from monsters in the dark and bad dreams. Maybe, if you sleep now, you might see her fending off the bad monsters and nightmares."

"Okay." Lizzie obediently followed and fell asleep again. This time, the pained expression was replaced by a peaceful smile.

She walked around, healing people of the injuries they should have never had. In a corner, a man was sobbing. He had a pill that was softly glowing in the dark in the palm of his hand. Clara instinctively knew what that pill was. She had seen in in the TARDIS – the Doctor had used it only once.

_"What's that pill?" Clara pointed at the pill the Doctor was holding in the controller room. _

_"Don't take it." He said as he swallowed it whole. _

_"Well, you just took it. Is it like drugs or something? Time Lord drugs?" Clara fake-gasped. "Doctor! I didn't know you were that kind of a person!" She teased._

_"What?! NO! What are you talking about? It's just a universal pill… like aspirin in your world. It just prevents you from being affected by the radiation. You can't take it because it's tailored for a Time Lord. This is the only pill in the universe that glows in the dark. If pudding-brains like you had it, you'll die in seconds. Quick and painless death but nevertheless, death. I need it for the next planet we're going to go. Very intense radiation. Yours is over there." He pointed at the small pill on the other side. When Clara hesitantly took the pill, she started feeling drowsy._

_"Doctor, what the hell is in this thing?"_

_"You feel tired right?" He stumbled and held onto the rails on the controller room. "Me too. Side effects. Should have told you to take it in your bedroom. Promise you the best… planet… in a… few hours…" He fell asleep on the ground. Clara sighed. _ _Not far after, Clara let the sleepiness take over as well._

Whatever you're thinking of doing, stop." Clara slowly approached him.

"You have no right to tell me what to do. Maybe you are new here, but you'll understand soon enough. This life is not worth living. 'This', is not even life.." The pill went closer to his mouth.

"Whoa, whoa. Please, do it for me." She looked around and took the hood of the purple cloak off. The man's eyes flashed with hatred.

"You're Clara Oswald, who caused all of this." He spat. Clara shook her head.

"Yes, I am Clara Oswald. But no, I wasn't the one who caused this. This was Blackoff, using my face to start this." She looked around for soldiers and continued. "I'm here to undo whatever damage he did to Preevos using me. I'm here to save you from this place. I am going to rescue all of you tonight." She gave him a genuine look. "Now, I need you to take the pill down. Get rid of it. Do you really want to miss the whole rescue mission? Blackoff is trying to ruin your lives right now. Are you going to help me stand up to him or are you just going to surrender to his beliefs? We want this war to end, and I need people to stand up for themselves, not lose control and give up."

The man hesitantly gave the pill to Clara and she slipped it into her pocket, preventing him from getting it again. "Just sleep for today. When you open your eyes, you'll be in a safe place." Clara said as she placed a finger on his temples. He instantly fell asleep. She made sure that she scrambled his memories so that he didn't remember her. She placed the hood back on. She casually walked outside and saw the moons slowly descending. She sneaked into the comms tower and hacked it, just as she practiced with Joanne.

"Comms are down." She whispered.

"Roger. Rebels ETA 20 minutes. Get those psychic receivers down and get back here." Joanne replied.

She briskly but casually walked around the fences and turned the receivers off. Once they were all off, the soldiers' earplugs fell off from their ears and all of them collapsed on the ground. Clara heard the rebels' trucks approaching. She paused and hid behind a bush. She saw the Doctor, commanding the soldiers. Clara gasped.

"You're alive." She muttered out before blocking her mouth.

"Did you hear something?" The Doctor said to the soldiers. "I'll meet you there. I'm going to investigate that part over there, just in case there are nasty surprises." The Doctor said. The soldiers nodded and walked to the other direction. He started approaching Clara's bush. Clara's heart raced a thousand miles. He stopped right in front of her.

"You can drop the shielding. I know you're here. You do realise the perception filter doesn't really work with Time Lords? Especially because you're psychic and I'm psychic. I can hear your heartbeat. Might as well write a sign saying "I'm hiding here". Now who are you and what do you want from me? I've had a very bad day today so don't make it even worse." He said in a gruff tone.

Clara stepped out of the bush slowly with her hood down.

"Hello, Doctor." Clara called gently.

"Clara." He whispered. He backed away in shock.

"I've missed you so much." She hugged him. The Doctor flinched, but hugged back after a while.

"I thought you were dead." The Doctor said. Forcefully stopping the tears from flowing out.

"I thought _you_ were dead." Clara retorted as she sniffled.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor said after a pause.

"No. Don't be. This was never your fault." Clara said as she wiped her tears. "Besides, look at you! You've changed so much! You used to hate soldiers. Couldn't even stand Danny. Now you're commanding a whole army!" Clara chuckled.

"And you've changed so much too. Since when did you become a psychic?" The Doctor replied. He paused and continued. "We can go back." The Doctor suggested. "This conflict is none of our business. We could go to Lake District in 1930s, Crocodilopolis the lakes of Urdinitti. We could go anywhere. If you wanted to."

Clara smiled. "But you don't have your TARDIS." She flicked his nose. "Blackoff has it. First thing I checked when I arrived. And remember your rule? We never walk away. Besides, I think it has become our business now. With you leading a revolution to stop the war. I'm helping to stop it too."

"Come back to the HQ with me. Please. Whoever you are working with, I don't think it's wise to trust her." The Doctor pleaded. "I just need you back by my side."

"Yeah. Everyone says that she can't be trusted. I know that too. But I need her… apparently, until the end." Clara said.

"Doctor, are you okay?" Mary's voice blared through the speakers.

"Yeah, all fine. Cl…" Clara placed her finger on his mouth. The Doctor looked at her in surprise. "Just give me a moment." He said to the communication device.

"I'm not supposed to show my identity. To you or to the opposition. It will compromise my mission and my safety. I need to be left as a story, not as a figure." Clara explained.

"Clara, you don't need to. This is not a game where you clear missions. You don't need to win the war, I just need to keep you safe. You're my responsibility because I brought you here." The Doctor replied.

"I am not your responsibility Doctor, I can take care of myself. I never said I was thinking this as a game. I'm trying to help the humans win the war against Blackoff, just like you. I have an advantage over them. If the opposition knew about me, they can figure out my pattern and my weakness and use it against me. If I were just a story, floating around… they can't do anything to stop me because they wouldn't know how to."

"Clara, you have to come back. Please. I don't want you to be hurt again from the crossfires. Remember Vlakos? I tried so hard to bring you back, but I couldn't, and you were hurt. I don't want that to happen again. It will… break my hearts." The Doctor pleaded. He desperately needed her back by his side. He had to know she was safe.

Clara paused to think about it. Somewhere in her mind, she desperately wanted to be with him. However that thought was overshadowed by the urges to protect Preevos. Clara shook her head.

"Doctor, as much as my heart is telling me to go with you, I can't. I have to put others in front of me. I've seen a lot of people die, and I feel the need to avenge them. A long time ago, I believed that whenever I'm in trouble, you'll always be the one to save me. I was dependent on you. But now I realised that I'm not. I am able to look after myself. I don't want you to be worried about me. We'll meet again when the war is over, okay? It will be back to normal and we'll be going on other adventures in no time." Clara kissed his hand. "I'm really sorry for what I'm going to do." Clara said as she reached for her pocket.

"What are you sorry…" Clara placed the pill she had acquired from the man before and a Retcon pill Joanne provided her previously inside the Doctor's mouth. She covered his mouth until he was forced to swallow it.

"There, there. I've just given you retcon and radiation-proof pill. All safe for Time Lords. The radiation pill will make you fall asleep, I've seen the effects on you. While it forces you to sleep, the Retcon will do its work and erase the past hour from your brain. You won't remember that I'm alive and you won't come looking for me. Sorry Doctor, and good bye. I love you Doctor. Please stay safe." Clara kissed the Doctor lightly on his cheek and disappeared into the deep forests.

The Doctor felt the 'sleeping pill' hitting his system. His Clara would never do this to her! 'What forced her to change this much?' He wondered.

"Help!" He yelled to the communications device. He took out a pen from his coat and started writing on his arm.

"CLARA IS ALIVE CLARA IS ALIVE DON'T FORGET FIND HER, SHE'S IN DANGER CLARA IS ALIVE CLARA IS ALIVE CLARAISALIVE"

He was slowly dragged into a deep sleep.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Joanne was listening to Clara's conversation with the Doctor.

_"There, there. I've just given you retcon and radiation-proof pill. All safe for Time Lords. The radiation pill will make you fall asleep, I've seen the effects on you. While it forces you to sleep, the Retcon will do its work and erase the past hour from your brain. You won't remember that I'm alive and you won't come looking for me. Sorry Doctor, and good bye. I love you Doctor. Please stay safe."_

Joanne smirked.

"Well, well, well Clara, look at you. All grown up. Not a damsel in distress anymore." She chuckled. "I guess the implants are working better than I thought."


	17. Chapter 16: What's Wrong with Clara?

**I've made a decision to upload once a week from now on, as the story is nearing the end. (or... is it?)  
><strong>**A BIG thank you to: Gleame, Guest Who, Kendra600, ProEllusionist, Spydur1, Evilkyubi, claraoswelve, AngryTimeLadyClara and bgeiner for the reviews!**

**...and equally thank you to all those who's followed and/or favourited the story :)**

**As always, enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Rebels HQ<strong>

A phone started ringing. The computers read 'unidentified source'.

"Hello?" Mary replied, eyeing at the Doctor. He was already scanning the source with his sonic screwdriver, trying to find the origin. On the screen, a person wearing a purple hood in the dark appeared. They could just about make the features of the person's face, however, it was too dark to recognise the face.

"500km from Hope. Co-ordinates 1-2-001-2." A metal distorted voice continued. "There is a concentration camp, which will go dark in 20 minutes. I need the rebels to be ready to rescue the people at 03:42am."

"Who are you? Why should we trust you?"

"Names do not matter. I will be sending something through the teleport that will guarantee your trust." The phone call ended.

Mary looked at the Doctor. "Did you find anything about the caller?"

The Doctor shook his head. "The signal was way too scrambled. I tried to trace it but it was impossible to find the other end." The Doctor placed his screwdriver back in his pocket.

Something arrived in the teleport with a golden light. It was a small jewellery box. The Doctor approached it cautiously.

"It might be a trap." Mary warned him.

"I know." He picked the box up and opened it. There was a small golden ring. His eyes widened.

"Do what she said. Get a rescue party ready." His voice sounded urgent.

"Doctor, what is it?" Mary asked.

"Excuse me." He left the HQ and entered his quarters.

The Doctor sat on the bed looking intently into the ring. That was the ring he saw in Ahkaten. The ring Clara used to trade with the motorbike. Clara's mother's ring. How did they get a hold of it? Was Clara safe? Was she… alive? His heartbeats steadily grew faster. Tons of questions flooded his mind. He closed the jewellery box and held it tight in his palms. He laid on the bed covering his face, deep in thought.

There was a knock on the door.

"Doctor, the rescue team are leaving in five minutes. Will you be joining them?" It was Captain Bennett.

"Will be there. Just give me a moment to gather my thoughts." He replied. 'Come on. Pull yourself together, they need you.' He thought to himself as he watched himself through the mirror.

When the rescue ops arrived at the scene, it was shining brilliantly with moonlight. The soldiers were all knocked out and they saw people shivering inside the sleeping quarters. As they lead them into the truck the Doctor spotted a pattern.

"That's very odd." He said as he looked around.

"I know, what organisation could have beaten all the soldiers like this? Better yet, why call us when they have the capacity to beat all of them? " Mary asked.

"No, I mean the prisoners. Other camps, the people who we rescued were full of wounds inflicted from torture and injuries from overworking. Here, none of them have anything. Malnourished, maybe, but not even a scratch. The soldiers either have realised their mistake in the mistreatment of people, or maybe it's a trap." He grabbed onto a woman who was limping to the vans.

"You, why are you limping?" He scanned her with his sonic. "There's nothing wrong with you. Not a scratch, no previous brain injuries. There's no reason for you to be limping. Unless you are an idiot. A lot of pudding brains are."

The woman smiled. "You're a funny man. My leg was broken. The soldiers broke it again and again to inflict pain on me and threaten others to work faster. Then I woke up to find my leg all better again. I guess I am still not used to walking with a good leg."

The Doctor grabbed onto someone else who was looking around in awe. "You. Why are you so looky? You've got eyes out to here. Usually no one can beat my wide-faced friend at that game."

"My eye! I was blind in one eye. Ever since I was a child! I woke up to find my bad eye working again! Good as new! I can see properly again!" He started praying to the moons.

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

While patrolling the outside with the soldiers, the Doctor heard something from far. Someone was hiding.

_"You're alive." Someone whispered from beyond the shrubbery._

_"Did you hear something?" The Doctor said to the soldiers. "I'll meet you there. I'm going to investigate that part over there, just in case there are nasty surprises." The Doctor said. The soldiers nodded and walked to the other direction. He stopped right in front of the bush._

_"You can drop the shielding. I know you're here. You do realise the perception filter doesn't really work with Time Lords? Especially because you're psychic. I can hear your heartbeat. Might as well write a sign saying "I'm hiding here". Now who are you and what do you want from me? I've had a very bad day today so don't make it even worse." He said in a gruff tone. He was not happy. He was never happy about raiding concentration camps. It showed how horrible a sentient living being could be._

_Clara stepped out of the bush with her hood down._

_"Hello, Doctor." Clara called gently._

_"Clara." He whispered. He backed away in shock. That couldn't be Clara. Clara was dead._

_"I've missed you so much." She hugged him. The Doctor flinched, but hugged back after a while._

_"I thought you were dead." The Doctor said. Forcefully stopping the tears from flowing out._

_"I thought you were dead." Clara retorted as she sniffled._

_"I'm sorry." The Doctor said after a pause._

_"No. Don't be. This was never your fault." Clara said as she kissed the Doctor's forehead. "Besides, look at you! You've changed so much! You used to hate soldiers. Couldn't even stand Danny. Now you're commanding a whole army!" Clara chuckled._

_"And you've changed so much too. Since when did you become a psychic?" The Doctor replied. He paused and continued. "We can go back." The Doctor suggested. "This conflict is none of our business. We could go to Lake District in 1930s, Crocodilopolis the lakes of Urdinitti. We could go anywhere. If you wanted to." _

_Clara smiled. "But you don't have your TARDIS." She flicked his nose. "Blackoff has it. First thing I checked when I arrived. And remember your rule? We never walk away. Besides, I think it has become our business now. With you leading a revolution to stop the war. I'm helping to stop it too."_

_"Come back to the HQ with me. Please. Whoever you are working with, I don't think it's wise to trust her." The Doctor pleaded. "I just need you back by my side."_

_"Yeah. Everyone says that she can't be trusted. I know that too. But I need her… apparently, until the end." Clara said._

_"Doctor, are you okay?" Mary's voice blared through the speakers. _

_"Yeah, all fine. Cl…" Clara placed her finger on his mouth. The Doctor looked at her in surprise. "Just give me a moment." He said to the communication device._

_"I'm not supposed to show my identity. To you or to the opposition. It will compromise my mission and my safety. I need to be left as a story, not as a figure." Clara explained._

_"Clara, you don't need to. This is not a game where you clear missions. You don't need to win the war, I just need to keep you safe. You're my responsibility because I brought you here." The Doctor replied._

_"I am not your responsibility Doctor, I can take care of myself. I never said I was thinking this as a game. I'm trying to help the humans win the war against Blackoff, just like you. I have an advantage over them. If the opposition knew about me, they can figure out my pattern and my weakness and use it against me. If I were just a story, floating around… they can't do anything to stop me because they wouldn't know how to."_

_"Clara, you have to come back. Please. I don't want you to be hurt again from the crossfires. Remember Vlakos? I tried so hard to bring you back, but I couldn't, and you were hurt. I don't want that to happen again. It will… break my hearts." The Doctor pleaded. He desperately needed her back by his side. He had to know she was safe._

_Clara shook her head._

_"Doctor, as much as my heart is telling me to go with you, I can't. I have to put others in front of me. I've seen a lot of people die, and I feel the need to avenge them. A long time ago, I believed that whenever I'm in trouble, you'll always be the one to save me. I was dependent on you. But now I realised that I'm not. I am able to look after myself. I don't want you to be worried about me. We'll meet again when the war is over, okay? It will be back to normal and we'll be going on other adventures in no time." Clara kissed his hand. "I'm really sorry for what I'm going to do." Clara said as she reached for her pocket._

_"Why are you sorry…" Clara placed the pill she had acquired from the man before and a Retcon pill Joanne provided her previously inside the Doctor's mouth. She covered his mouth until he was forced to swallow it._

He found his vision blurring and eyelids wanting to close. He knew that once his eyes were closed, he won't be remembering Clara again. He had to remember. He needed to know that Clara was alive. And seeing her realised how much danger she was actually in. Her eyes. They weren't the kind hazel eyes of Clara's. Something else had taken over them.

"Help!" He yelled to the communications device. He took out a pen from his coat and started writing on his arm.

"CLARA IS ALIVE CLARA IS ALIVE DON'T FORGET FIND HER, SHE'S IN DANGER CLARA IS ALIVE CLARA IS ALIVE CLARAISALIVE"

He was slowly dragged into a deep sleep.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

As soon as Clara walked away, Joanne quickly teleported to the Doctor, peacefully sleeping on the ground.

"Hello, Doctor. I've heard a lot about you. Shame we had to meet like this. I know first impression is supposed to be everything." She took a small canister out of the pocket, which contained some sort of translucent cream. She smeared it all over the writing on his arm. She lit the cream on fire.

"Oh, Doctor, the Clara you knew is long gone. I made sure she was. I think it would be the best for you to never try finding her again." With those words, Joanne teleported back to her house.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**Back at the Rebel HQ**

The Doctor slowly opened his eyes. He was in the infirmary of the headquarters. He moved his arms and flinched in the burning pain. His left arm was completely bandaged up. He saw someone sitting beside him.

"Clara?" He muttered out.

"It's Mary. Why would you say Clara?" Mary was sitting by his side.

"I… don't know. What's this?" He asked, pointing at the bandages.

"I don't know, you tell me. You were on fire last night, unconscious and everything." Mary answered.

"On fire? It that was a metaphor, thank you. But judging by your face, and my arm, I think you mean physically." Mary sighed. "Doctor, what happened last night?" She asked.

"I… I don't know. I don't remember anything. I went to investigate a noise, and then I woke up here." An image of a lady in a purple hood went past his head. 'must be a dream.' He thought as he shook it off.

The door hissed open and Henry entered with a chart.

"Now, Doctor. You're lucky you have the healing speed of the Time Lords. If you were human, all of this would have scarred horrifically." He placed the charts down. "Whatever happened, you wouldn't remember it. You still have retcon in your blood. Whatever you did or whoever you met, they didn't want you to remember any of it."

The image of the purple hood being revealed passed his head again. Someone under the hood… he knew who it was. He suddenly remembered the book he had got a long time ago from the librarian. He remembered reading something about a purple hooded lady there. He started undoing the bandages.

"Doctor, you can't undo that yet!" Mary and Henry exclaimed at the same time.

"I don't need it. It will heal quicker without it." He jumped off the bed and sprinted into his quarters.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Mary yelled as she followed him.

Mary followed him inside his quarter.

"Excuse me, can't I have a moment?" The Doctor said, trying to shoo Mary away.

Mary looked around to see everything in disorder. There were wires and screws sprawled on the desk, half-finished gadgets and paper work in the corner. The bed was occupied by a map of Preevos, with red dots that probably signified the headquarters around the world.

"Frankly Doctor, no. Not yet. You need to rest. You've just burnt your entire left arm. You can't be doing this in your condition. Look, it's bleeding." She pointed at his arm, which was raw with burnt flesh.

"Your worries are touching but unnecessary." He said as he wiped the blood off with his handkerchief. "It will heal in about… 50 minutes. I'll live." He said nonchalantly. He took out a lead box from a safe.

"What's that?" Mary asked.

"The book of Preevos and the ring." He answered as he unlocked the box. He cleared the screws and bolts from the table and carefully placed the book on the surface.

"Why are you keeping it like that? I mean, you are the Traveller, shouldn't you be wearing the ring and carrying the book around or something?"

"Well, I would… except the materials that they are made out of is toxic." He muttered, more interested in the book than Mary's question. "Metal forged in the time vortex, I would say. Even I won't be able to last long when I'm carrying this." He continued.

"What? What do you mean toxic? My son carried the ring. Does that mean he's in danger?" Mary started panicking.

The Doctor closed the book and stared at Mary. "Short exposures are fine. They won't do you any harm. That would be just like living near Gallifrey, like Preevos was once upon a time. But long exposure to them will destroy you. Cell by cell, mutating your genes and killing you inside out." He explained. He continued searching for the purple hood in the book.

Mary had to tell the Doctor about Clara. How Clara was a part of the prophecy as well. How she was chosen as the traveller by the elder and had carried the ring and the watch. Until she… died.

"Doctor." He turned around, slightly annoyed that she was still inside his quarters. "I need to tell you something. It's about Clara."

His glance changed. "..W..what about her?" He stammered. By the looks Mary was giving, it wasn't something good. "Did you find her? ...Is she alive?" A tiny glint of hope went past his face.

"You know the ring? Oliver got a hold of them from Clara. Clara saved my son's life and many others by leading them the opposite way to buy us time. Henry and Miere were Clara's cell-buddies back in Vlakos. They said that Clara already owned the pocket watch, which was apparently given to her from the president's son."

"That means… She would have been wearing them around 24/7 since she arrived here." The Doctor sat down on the chair in shock. He glanced over his watch. "And it's already been 10 months since the assassination happened. She wouldn't have survived the toxic properties of the items. Her human body wouldn't have been able to handle it. If she survived the shot on the mountain… she would already be …dead." A tear fell across his face. 'but she's not dead. She's alive.' A small inner voice reminded himself. However, that voice carrying hope was engulfed by the overshadowing grief.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

**Wooden lodge- somewhere in Preevos**

"Hey Joanne, I'm back!" Clara chimed. Charlie greeted her with the friendliest manner possible.

"Hello, Charlie, did you miss me? Yes you did." She lifted the little puppy up and kissed him. Suddenly, she froze. Charlie stared at her in confusion. She slowly placed Charlie back on the ground and leaned over in all fours. Why was she feeling sick? She coughed up clotted blood which fell on the varnished, wood floor. Charlie ran to get Joanne. Clara collapsed on her side. Everything was spinning around and closing in. She gasped for breath but it felt like her lungs were collapsing in on itself.

"Clara?" A voice echoed. "Clara, can you hear me?" The voice was swallowed in the buzzing inside her ears. She felt someone yank the chain on her neck, breaking the chain that was connected to the watch. The gauntlet was taken off of her as well. She felt a prick on the neck and felt a cold, uncomfortable liquid enter her bloodstream. "You'll be fine Clara. You'll be okay. Don't worry about the pain." A hand rubbed her back soothingly.

Next day, Clara woke up with a terrible headache, as if she was hung over from a party. She checked her arm to see an IV dripping chemicals into her bloodstream. Joanne walked in.

"I have a killer headache and a needle hooked up to me. Care to explain?" Clara said, staring at Joanne.

"It's nothing too serious. I think you caught something while you were on your mission yesterday. You collapsed on the front door and I had to take you to bed." Joanne answered. Clara stared. The answer seemed like it had been over-practiced, but she decided not to question it further.

"Listen, from your next mission onwards, I want you to take something before you go on. Just in case this happens again." Joanne smiled. Clara stared, 'is she hiding a secret from me?' she thought with a suspicion. But she was too tired to care about it now.

"Whatever you say." Clara answered sleepily.

"Right, get some rest. Night night." Joanne turned the lights off and closed the door behind her. She ran to a secret door on the other side of the corridor. The door hissed open to reveal a laboratory. Joanne grabbed onto a vial and swirled it around, observing the colour change.

"You gave me a little bit of a scare there Clara. I guess I have to change you more quickly than I thought." She muttered to herself as she sucked the liquid up into a syringe.


	18. Chapter 17: The Factory

**Thank you to last1stnding, ProEllusionist, claraoswelve and bgeiner for your lovely reviews!  
><strong>**And hello to new followers/favouriters :D  
><strong>**Thank you again for supporting my story, and enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Blackoff's HQ<strong>

Blackoff threw the photos of abandoned labour camps on the desk with rage.

"WHO IS THE HEALER?" He screeched. "We cannot let another imbecile ruin my plans to cleanse the planet."

"Sir, we found something." A soldier entered his meeting room in a hurry.

"Well, it better be bloody important or I'll shoot you on sight. Don't you see we're in a meeting right now?!" He spat.

"Sorry sir. T…the blood samples from a subject. It reacted with the peace orb. Her blood is the key to activating the orb sir." He said nervously.

"Whose blood is it?"

"Clara… Clara Oswald, sir."

Blackoff cocked a gun at him. "If you are lying to me, I'll shoot you on sight." He roughly pressed it on his forehead. "We all know that the Doctor is the Traveller. Clara Oswald is a puny human. She's nothing important except as leverage for the Doctor. Well, we don't need a leverage anymore because THEY BOTH ESCAPED!" He banged the table and everyone flinched in fear.

The soldier handed the brown document with trembling hands. Blackoff roughly ripped it out of his hands and skimmed through the document. The ends of his lips moved slightly.

"Well, well, well. It seems that our sweet, little Clara has been keeping secrets from us. Find her. And bring her." Blackoff commanded. "Oh, and if you find the healer, kill her on sight."

oOoOOOOoOoOoOoOO

Clara's crusade to save the humans from the camps continued.

"Clara, we've got a report from the intelligence about a camp in the middle of the ice desert." Joanne said as she handed her a one-piece prisoner outfit. "You'll need to wear this."

Clara stood there baffled.

"I thought the perception filter cloak can do its job? I mean, what happens if I get caught?" Clara asked, as she checked the uniform out. It was worn out blue made out of thin, scratchy material which draped along the sides. Clara flinched at the ugliness of it.

"They have a force field which will disable any psychic technology upon entering the camp. But you will be able to infiltrate the building even without the cloak. It's in the middle of the ice desert, which means it's not heavily guarded by the guards. All you need to do is take down the communication, disable the firing mechanism for weaponry and escape with the detainees. There's a teleporter nearby so you can use that to bring them all home. I am going have to rely on you to lead them to our teleport. We can't work with the rebels this time because it will take too long for them to send a rescue mission there. Before you go, take this." She handed her a little pill, which Clara gulped in one go.

"Good luck." Joanne added.

Clara smiled and activated the teleport.

When she arrived on the other side, it was freezing. Her prisoner uniform wasn't helping at all. She walked in the knee deep snow towards the facility. As she had always done, she skilfully went past the guarded gates and tread on the moonlight, where she was always half invisible thanks to the items she carried. Suddenly, multiple spotlights shone on her spot, blinding her.

"Stop! What are you doing outside your cage?" A woman yelled shrilly. Clara instinctively flinched. She had just realised what Joanne had said, "_They have a force field which will disable any psychic technology upon entering the camp_". The cloak wasn't the only psychic technology she carried. The legendary items operated psychically as well. Clara mentally kicked herself for her stupidity. She should have been more careful. She figured she would go with the flow for now. She could take them all down if she wanted to, but would wait for the right moment to do so.

"I…I'm sorry!" She put her hands up and played dumb. The guards roughly grabbed her by the collar and pinned her down. "Please don't kill me. Please." Clara pleaded with her puppy dog eyes. Clara calculated that she could take them down, but decided to wait until she felt the peb box on her head. Attack when they least expect it. That's what every guards did these days. If they found a prisoner out of bounds, kill them on sight, since human beings were 'worthless and expendable'. She felt disgust even by that thought. She closed her eyes and prepared for her counterattack.

But instead of the peb box, she felt a bullet dig into her shoulder. She yelped and then struggled out of the grasp in pain. She felt the dullness spread across from her shoulder. At first, she quickly took down several guards and started running, knowing her plan had gone pear-shaped, but her strength gradually gave way, paralysing her body. She flopped onto the snow-covered floor like a fish out of water. The woman grabbed onto Clara's grey collar.

"Kill you? Why, you are so much to us alive than dead." She laughed. Clara gulped and panicked. This was not supposed to happen. She felt the warm, sticky blood lazily flowing out of the bullet hole in her shoulder. They knew who she was, and they had finally caught her. No rebel soldiers were coming, which meant she had no chance of escape. The paralysis bullet worked quickly, and soon, she found herself locked in her position, not being able to move.

"How the hell did she escape?" The woman questioned the guard.

"I'm not sure. She must be one of the transfers. She's not wearing our uniform nor is she catalogued." The guard answered.

The soldiers dragged her through the snow and stopped in front of a cage. They fixed some sort of an oxygen mask on her face. They placed a long needle on one of her legs and closed the door to the cage which was as small as a dog kennel.

As the paralysis bullet slowly wore off, Clara sluggishly looked around. Her shoulder was still oozing with blood, which she tried to fix with her healing gauntlet. She found that she couldn't connect to the gauntlet at all being in this place. She couldn't feel for other psychics, and she heard nothing other than the weeping of prisoners near-by. She realised that all the prisoners were children, ranging from infants to teens inside the cages with a mask fixed on their face. They all had several tubes extending from their arms and legs. Clara saw the needle on her leg and tried to pull it off. However, she was met with an electric shock all over her body. They all looked like they were in pain and laid in the cramped space, half exhausted. She was disgusted yet again at Blackoff. How could he do this to people? Let alone to children?! Her breathing became faster trying to suck up oxygen through the mask. After a bit, her heart started beating as if she had sprinted for a long time. She was mentally exhausted from having to breathe so often.

"Right, you're the newbie right?" A voice travelled through the corridor with hundreds of cages. Clara laid down again, trying not to raise suspicion. She crawled closer to the opening of the cage and listened intently to their conversation.

"Yes ma'am." A man's timid voice echoed quietly.

"Any questions before the induction?"

"What are all the tubes? Where do they lead to?"

"One of the investors of Preevos, he made a deal with President Blackoff. He promised to support us in anyway if he was supplied with certain amounts of Kilidrane and Hylidrane. These tubes carry the substances straight to the processing plant for these substances."

"Kilidrane and Hylidrane? What are they?"

"It's a substance, sort of like party drugs for their kind. Kilidrane is made from carbon dioxide from young humans and Hylidrane is made of the plasma of the blood."

"So this place is like a factory?"

There was a laugh. "Yeah, a drug factory. We make sure we yield enough for our client, named 456, as well as the universal black market. You might want to write these down. The subjects create Kilidrane all day, where one of the two pipes of the mask supply carbon dioxide with very little oxygen to the subjects so that we can get a greater amount of carbon dioxide breathed out by children in return. Once every hour, we force them to exercise inside their cages, which creates more carbon dioxide output." She paused and clapped in manic excitement. "Now, Hylidrane is a rarer drug created from plasma of the blood. Since subjects can be killed if they lose too much blood, we only do these once a day. We shoot them with a mix of chemicals in their bone marrows, which makes them work 500% more to produce blood. Things can get quite messy when it's happening, so careful not to linger around their cages during those times. Then, we pump 90% of their blood, replacing the rest with artificial fluid to keep their tiny bodies going."

Clara could hear the swift scribbling. The footsteps then disappeared distantly. She was even more disgusted. They were using children as an object, as a drug. She had to get everyone out of there. But how? She let out a bitter smile as she realised they had said she was needed not because she was Clara, but because they thought she was a teenager too, given her height.

Suddenly, she felt fresh oxygen travelling through the mask. It seemed that it had happened to everyone in the cages. Everyone sat there, gasping for more oxygen. Suddenly, she felt something foreign entering her bloodstream. It seemed that it was happening to everyone at the same time, judging by their moans and grunts. Clara barely held in the nausea caused by the chemical, unlike other kids who were severely throwing up inside the cage. She laid on her back trying to contain herself as the burning chemical coursed through her body. The chemical was now replaced with the tubes sucking up blood. Clara was already losing blood through the bullet wound on her shoulder that was untended for but losing more from the tube just made her curl up and cry. What kind of sick monsters would want children's blood and their breath as drugs?

However, this was not the end of the bad news for Clara. The nausea she experienced back in Joanne's house started hitting her again. It was a different kind to the one she was experiencing through the chemicals in her vein – more like a rock was crushing her into pieces. Over a course of few weeks, she was now familiar with this sensation. It happened almost every day, but Joanne was always there to help her get through it. This time, she wasn't.

She rocked back and forward desperately wanting it to end. Clara helplessly coughed up blood weakly yelling for help. A soldier approached her and took the bloodied mask off her face. However, he just locked the door again leaving Clara to suffer. The pain progressed from nausea to exhaustion and over time, everything started slowly shutting down. Her breathing became strained, trying to reach for as much oxygen as possible. Her body became limp and helpless. She had lost most of her strength to control her body. What was happening to her?

"Clara, is everything going okay?" Joanne's worried voice crackled through the ear piece. Clara was so glad to hear her voice.

"I got caught. Help me. It's not a camp, it's a drug farm. There are children here. Lots of them, suffering." Clara whispered breathily. "It's happening again, Joanne. The seizures. Help me. Please. It hurts."

"You have to get out of there. Now. You can come back for the children later, your life is at risk. Clara, you have to escape before you die!" Joanne's panicked voice travelled through the implant.

"I can't… move." Clara muttered weakly.

All of a sudden, her cage door opened with a creak.

"Now this one is very interesting." A man in a lab coat came in. The soldiers took her out of the cage. Clara found that she had no strength in her legs even to sit up. The soldiers held her limp body so that she was forcefully sat up.

"We've been scanning her, and the results were fascinating. Advanced DNA with promising output. Background radiation indicates human plus. And look!" Clara flinched back as a man roughly lifted her eyes and shone a white light on her eyes. "Yet she's aware of everything. Even after the bullet."

Clara started coughing up more blood.

"Promising output? Seriously? She looks more dead than alive. What's wrong with her?" A man asked the scientist.

"Don't worry, I think she has a condition. The scan showed that her body was going through a conflicted biological change."

'Conflicted biological change? What did he mean by that?' she thought.

"I want you to harvest everything you can from her. The sample yields were promising." A rage boiled inside Clara's mind.

"I am not a cattle!" Clara yelled as she charged to the man in a lab coat. However, the attack was short lived as she fell down from the lack of energy.

"Nu, uh." He tutted with an evil grin. Clara laid onto the floor, out of breath.

"What have you done to me?" Clara growled.

"What have _I_ done to you?! I've done nothing yet. What's happening to you right now is not because of me." He said. The man placed his foot on her stomach. Clara gasped for more breath.

"You should be grateful. I'm letting you to move into a bigger room with fewer people. The stench of human filth is weaker there." Another guards arrived and dragged her to a lab-like place. They roughly pushed her into a chair with restraints. There were kids, pale and barely breathing, covered in tubes and cut open in places she didn't really want to see. Clara felt her body burning up like there were thousands of hot needles poking her in numerous places.

"Clara, I'm coming for you." Joanne's voice brought hope.

Whatever was happening to her caused her vision to go blurry and worsen the headache. She didn't even notice the needles connecting with her arm. But as the chemical blew ice into her veins she tried to shake it away hopelessly in pain. Then more needles joined to vacuum all the blood inside her. While that was happening, they placed a thick tube through her stomach. Clara flinched as she felt the needle break the skin of her torso.

"You know, human stomach bile is used for various purposes? I mean, apparently it has natural healing properties. Well, it's a myth yet so many people believe it's true and they are willing to pay thousands of credits for it." A man said smirking at her. "Such a pretty face. It's a shame you're wasted in this facility." He said as he caressed her face with his disgusting hands. Clara flinched away from his touch.

She glanced down to see dark liquid travelling through the tube, drop by drop. There was a machine nearby which was pumping the blood and the bile into clear bags. She looked away, disgusted that such machine existed. The thumping pain in her head continued.

"Leave it until the bags fill up. Work on another subject. Remember, we're working with a quota." A woman of some importance commanded.

A teenage boy came in, his head covered with a bandage. He was moaning in pain. Clara wanted his cries to stop as it worsened her headache.

"What's wrong with him?" a 'scientist' asked, scribbling on a clipboard.

"He is a teenage boy with excellent intellect. We need you to extract his active brain tissues. Try not to damage the specimen please."

Clara gagged at even the thought of it.

"We've already fitted a port where the extractor can be placed. His brain will be liquefied the second it passes the filter." A man said.

They brought a tube like machine and connected to the side of his head. Through the clear tube, she saw the grey, reddish material being sucked into the machine. The poor teenage boy hideously screamed. Clara cried seeing him suffer. The scientists left the room.

"Stop. Help me." The boy muttered.

"Hey, look at me." Clara croaked, trying to divert his mind from his suffering. "Can you tell me who you are?" Clara abruptly stopped to cough.

"I…I don't know." He said, half whimpering in pain.

"Do you remember where you're from?"

The boy gently shook his head.

"My name is Clara. I'm from Earth." She breathed in and out deeply, as she felt like she was drowning in water. The seizures, she desperately wanted them to stop.

His head started drooping. "No, don't sleep. Look at me. Let's talk. Have a nice chit chat." Clara urged him to stay up.

"…Clara? That's a pretty name." He managed to give her a quick smile. He drew out a shaky breath. "Why does my head hurt so much?" He was crying. Clara was crying with him. It hurt to see him like that, where she could do nothing but watch him suffer. She felt a sharp pain in her stomach as the needle dug in deeper. "So… Can you tell me about your family?" Clara asked, wincing from the new, advancing pain added to the ones she already was suffering from.

"I had a sister. An older sister. She looked like you. She was nice.. .I think… I don't remember." He said shuddering underneath the restraints. "Please…. Make the pain stop."

"Older sister. Good. Were you close? Tell me something about her." His head drooped again, the tube following his head.

"Hey. Hey, stay with me!" Clara begged. "Stay…"

He weakly lifted his head again. "Where am I? Who are you?" His voice was now much softer and slurred.

"I'm Clara. I was talking to you before. Can you stay awake for a bit longer?" Clara pleaded.

"Mmm." He leaned his head on the headrest of the chair. His face was now deathly pale. Slowly, his eyes closed and he drew his last breath.

The machine dinged and the scientists came in again. They opened the machine and took the red grey gloop in a bag.

"Get the atomic shredder and get rid of the body. We need the space for the next one." A man ordered. Another man came in and pressed something on him. His body vaporised into thin air.

Clara was too shocked even to lash out. The man, no, the monster, approached her. "Now, how are you going, my sweet?" He checked the machine and took out the full bags of blood. He checked the bile bag, which was now filled halfway. Clara hopelessly glared at him.

The man forcefully opened her eyes and shone a blinding light through it.

"Interesting. How are you seeing things with eyes like this?" She ignored him. He was probably saying that to wind her up.

"Get the next subject in. Keep working, the 456 has increased its demands for their supplies." The woman said.

The guards brought in a girl, about as old as 10. She was limp all over her body other than her chest slowly rising up and down.

On the chair across Clara, they started cutting her open. The girl opened her eyes in pain. The overwhelming pain didn't allow her to scream, her body just weakly shuddered.

"Stop." Clara hoarsely spoke. No one took notice.

They connected tubes in her open body and left once again. The girl was crying, just like the teenage boy. She was heading for the same destination as the boy. Towards the pointless death.

Clara had enough. She didn't want to see any more die like this. She closed her eyes in anger and sadness, not just from her pain, but from the sight of children in pain. They didn't deserve any of this. All she wanted was for the girl to stop suffering.

Suddenly, a golden glow shrouded the room. It fogged up and expanded to the room after and one after that, completely covering every children victimised by this factory. With a bang, everyone was gone, and she was the only one left in the whole facility.

The scientist entered the now-empty room in shock. The lead scientist pushed through and grabbed the collar of Clara's uniform. Clara's body weakly swayed, following his grasp.

"What the hell did you do? Where are the children?" He yelled.

Clara smiled in relief as she realised everyone had somehow managed to escape. She felt her body shutting down organ by organ. She wasn't sure what was causing this, but it didn't matter because she saved everyone she needed to. Death, to her, felt more comfortable right now than the pains of her life.

Suddenly, as the earpieces short circuited, the scientists all collapsed on the floor.

"Clara?" Joanne's blurry face came into her sight. She ripped out the needles from her body. She felt a substance enter her bloodstream through a syringe. The seizures stopped and strength slowly started returning to her.

"You're okay now. You're safe. Let's get you home." Joanne said as she lifted Clara's small, frail body off the chair.


	19. Chapter 18: The Healer's Identity

**Hey. I would have posted the next chapter if Fanfiction weren't down for a whole day yesterday. But here it is! The next chapter. I apologise for the story being so short - it was originally part of the last chapter, but I HAD to split it for a better cliffhanger :3 (Sorry everyone.)**

**Next update will be next week Friday or Saturday, so see you then :D**

**Special thanks to: bgeiner, claraoswelve, last1stnding, surfingtimelawd and ProEllusionist! Your lovely reviews always keeps me going :D**

**Anyway. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Wooden lodge<strong>

When Clara woke up, she saw Joanne's face and Charlie obediently sitting beside her.

"Hey, my hero." Joanne gently sat her up and offered her a glass of water.

"I was…" Clara started remembering the golden light, the explosion and the children. She gladly accepted the cup of water and gulped it down. The water tasted like heaven through her dry throat.

A burning question took over her head. "I needed to ask you something." Clara suddenly said.

"Sure thing, ask away." Joanne answered with a smile.

"Why do I keep having these seizures? Back in the factory, my body started shutting down, one by one. And I felt it. I felt the cells dying, each one of them individually. Every time it happens, I hate it. It hurts so much and I beg for it to stop. You always make it better, but you weren't there this time. What happens if you aren't here one day and I start having another seizure? Joanne, am I… dying?" Clara asked with worried eyes.

Joanne's smile was replaced by a concerning frown.

"No, of course not. You're not dying. It's probably just a side effect to the psychic force field placed in the camps. Don't worry about that for now. Just remember you managed to save hundreds of kids from suffering." Joanne diverted the subject.

"By the way, were the kids okay? Where are they?" Clara asked.

"I treated all the kids and teleported them off to the Rebels. They are fine. They'll be cared for. You did it Clara, you managed to use the psychic powers of the items to teleport everyone off the base. I never knew anyone could do that, but you've shown me that you can. Rest up. I'll brief you with the next camp when you wake up."

"I did that?" She smiled weakly. "I'm glad I did. They were in pain… and I couldn't stand it. One died, and I didn't even know his name. He must have had family and friends, but not anymore, because they pointlessly took his life away." Her smile faded. Clara closed her eyes. She was going to regret saying this to Joanne.

"Joanne, I want to stop. What I saw back there… what I experienced… it was too much for me. I want to go back."

Joanne's face hardened. "You do know that you have to save them, right? You're their only hope. There's no one else who can do this without you." She gave an ice cold expression. "If you don't save them, imagine how many people are going to suffer. Like that boy you couldn't save. And it will be all on you." Joanne said, with an accusatory glance.

'You can't give up now. You never walk away, remember?' a voice inside her head whispered to Clara.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I need to save them before there is nothing left to save." Clara was suddenly so sure. 'That's strange, have I always been so decisive?' she thought to herself. She felt as if the inner voice was foreign, as if it wasn't hers. She shook it off. No one could possibly get into her head. Even the thought of that was silly.

"That's the way to do it." Joanne smiled. "Anyway, I better prepare you some food, you must be starving." As she exited Clara's room, she let out a relieved sigh.

Day after day, Clara travelled around Preevos through the teleports and started tearing the camps down inside out. She first went in to heal the ones from their injuries, no matter how short on time or complicated they were. Then, she brought the physical camps down and left before anyone could see her. The story of a mysterious healer reached everywhere around the world and started giving people hope and the idea to join rebellion against Blackoff.

Preevos was on the brink of war, a revolution setting in place to overthrow the cruel tyrant.

oOoOooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**Destroyed factory – Ice desert of Preevos**

"President Blackoff, I am so sorry."

"Sorry does not cut it." He said coldly as he shot the man dead.

"Next. Tell me what happened here. You do realise you have severed the support and trust I had gained from the 456 network?" He screamed angrily at the terrified soldiers.

Blackoff stopped by the bags of blood. There was golden light lingering around. The light disappeared as Blackoff blew it away.

"The Healer was here." He muttered. "This is the healer's blood. I can feel the power emanating from them."

He squeezed a little bit of blood onto his hands and tasted it. His eyes widened and his face shook with rage.

"Human with abnormalities." He said. "Human with TIME abnormalities. This is Clara Oswald's blood."

"Of course!" The man in a lab coat exclaimed unconsciously in realisation. Blackoff clutched his collar in anger.

"YOU had Clara Oswald, and you just let her go?! Did you just allow Clara Oswald, who also turns out to be the healer, waltz in and out with the rest of the cattle?!" He boiled over furiously.

"But sir, look on the bright side, we now know that she's the healer and have all of her biological data. We can use it to figure out her weaknesses and…"

"The bright side?!" He laughed. "There is no bright side to this. Especially for you." He killed the scientist with by snapping his neck with his bare hands.

"Kill them. Kill everyone who was responsible for this. Oh, don't use the standard bullets. Use the toxic ones. Let them suffer. Let the bullets teach them a lesson before they die." Blackoff told his private bodyguards and walked to his car.

There were terrible screams, which he blocked out by closing the door to his black, polished car.

He handed the bags of blood to his secretary. "Five bags. This should be enough. Start transfusing them into me when I get back to the base. This should at least be enough for me to try touching the orb."

The secretary silently nodded. "Yes sir." Then, she tilted her head in curiosity. "May I ask why you are so interested in the peace orb, sir?"

Blackoff smiled. "I'm not interested in the peace orb, I'm only interested in what is in it." He laughed darkly. He then continued. "You know, I was having such a bad day with 'the healer' waltzing in and out. But now that I know who it is, I know what to expect. We'll find her, and I'm going to kill her myself with my own hands. It will be tremendous fun." He smirked.

oOoOoOoOoOo

**Wooden lodge**

Clara was lying on the bed once again. Her head was spinning around and her lungs felt like it was crushing under their own weight. Joanne held her hand in reassurance. The seizures, they were happening again. But this time, it was worse than any she had experienced.

"Joanne, what's happening to me?" Clara weakly said, breathing shakily in pain.

"Shh… Don't talk, it will pass." Joanne said, stroking her face.

Clara knew it would. She always felt better after a while. The seizures would happen, and then disappear after a while. She would forget the pain until they returned to plague her again.

She fell asleep. In her dream, she saw the Doctor. She hadn't seen him in her dreams for a long time now. She missed him so much. But her current life made her forget about him. Forget about the amazing, happy adventures they once used to have. That seemed like ages ago now. It now felt like she'd been taking down camps and healing people- doing the Traveller's job ever since she was born.

"Clara, don't trust her. Run away. Run!" He yelled in desperation. Clara looked at him in shock. Why was he saying that? Joanne saved her life, she took care of her. She was the one who taught her how to become the Traveller she was now. Clara trusted Joanne with all her life.

"Why?" She asked.

"Clara!" He screamed as he pointed beyond her shoulders. She saw the teenage boy who had been killed back in the factory.

"You helped everyone. But you couldn't help me. Because you are weak. So weak!" His glossy, empty eyes stared at Clara with a hateful look. He pounced at her.

Clara woke up screaming. She saw Charlie licking her face, reassuring her that it was a nightmare. Clara carefully got out of the bed, and looked out the window to see the twin moons still high up on the sky. She closed her eyes and held her breath momentarily as the sharp pain rose along her body. The seizures were happening more frequently now. Her body didn't have enough time to recover until the next one hit her. She knew she should be worrying about this, but she was too busy – she did not have enough time to think about herself when she had to save people after people from those terrible extermination camps. She quietly opened the door to see the dark corridor greeting her. However, across her room, she saw a slither of light leaking on the bottom of a seamless wall. She placed her hands on the wall, and it slid open.

Inside were various lab equipment with vials of different colour and documents stuck on the boards hung on the walls. Not just any documents; _her_ documents. Everything about her from her blood type, structure of DNA and her cells. She stood there stunned. She opened what looked like a fridge to find bags of blood. _Her _blood. The bags were dated. One bag for each day, spanning to 30 to 40 days. Clara frowned. Joanne would never do this. What would be the point?

There was a cough by the door. Joanne stood there with guilty eyes.

Clara backed off. "I…I'm not sure if I can trust you right now." She stammered. She tried to run for the door but Joanne stopped her.

"Clara, I can explain all this." She replied.

"Good. And to me too." A wiry figure stood outside the dark corridor.

Both Clara and Joanne gasped. Joanne instantly had her gun aimed at the figure.

"Please. I'm not here to kill you. I'm only here for her." He pointed at Clara as he stepped into the light. "Long time no see."

Clara's eyes widened.

"Doctor."


	20. Chapter 19: Gallifreyan and the Teleport

**Hello! Long time no see! Many of you will have mixed feelings by the end of this chapter... I apologise in advance.**

**Special thanks to everyone who reviewed: claraoswelve, Ravenwood85, Evilkyubi, ProEllusionist, Spydur1, bgeiner, Kendra600 and Guest Who!**

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><p><strong>Rebel HQ<strong>

Day after day, the mysterious caller called them and told them where and when a concentration camp was going 'dark'. Whenever they arrived at the said points, the soldiers were all knocked out and the prisoners all healed from their injuries.

One day, waves of kids suddenly teleported in from nowhere. Mary suddenly received a call.

"These are the children who were rescued from a drug factory. I've made your work easier by teleporting them straight to you." The transmission ended.

The children walked into the residential side of the tunnels, where they were reunited with their parents and/or were looked after by the community.

"Mummy! Daddy!" A girl ran to their parents, crying in joy.

"Sophie!" The mother and the father ran to her child and hugged her tightly. "Are you hurt? Are you okay?" She kissed her over and over again. "This will never happen again. I love you."

Mary looked at the sight and hugged Oliver tightly. The Doctor stood beside her, looking at the reunion scene. Through his Time lord eyes, he saw the traces of time-vortex energy around the children. 'Very interesting.' He thought. The children were also unscathed.

"The people, they call her the Healer." Mary said to the Doctor.

The Doctor turned around, slightly annoyed that his chain of thought had been interrupted. "Sorry?"

"The Healer. Apparently, before they shut the camps down, everyone has a dream. There's a woman who goes around healing the sick. The woman in a purple cloak."

A fuzzy picture of the purple cloaked woman revealing herself to him crossed his mind. He shook it off.

"That's quite a god-complex that she has." He said. Then he continued. "Mary, I know the mystery caller has helped us save many lives, both adults and children, but don't trust her. I have a hunch that there is something she's hiding." He took out the small jewellery box. "The first time the caller contacted us, we were sent this jewellery box. Inside was this ring, which is my friend's ring. Clara's." He paused momentarily to stare at the ring and then continued. "She never took this off. It belonged to her mother, who passed away when she was still young. The person who sent it to me must know who I am and who I am to Clara. I am grateful that s/he's helping us with saving lives, but be careful. The caller is hiding something. The caller probably has Clara somewhere. She's definitely hiding something about Clara or maybe something bigger. Don't be fooled."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**Rebel HQ – A few days later**

There was a knock on the door. The Doctor answered it, and Mary came in.

"Doctor, I need you to take care of Oliver for a little bit."

"What?! No, I'm busy. Can't you see I'm building a prototype particle controller right now?"

"We found a medical centre in the mountains and Bennett and I are going to go scout the place. The baby sitter is sick so I'm turning to you, since you're the only one I can trust with my son."

'Bennett?' The Doctor inwardly chuckled. Mary and Captain Bennett was becoming closer as the time went on. Then he realised what Mary was saying.

"No! I can't have a little human wandering around my room. No, nonono no way! I'm not a babysitter." He replied.

Mary sighed, "Oliver is a good boy, just let him stay in your room for a bit. We won't be long. I promise."

"Fine. Just tell him not to touch my stuff." The Doctor said, defeated and continued soldiering the circuit board.

"Thank you. Now, Oliver, be a good boy and behave." Oliver nodded. The door closed and Oliver walked around the edge of the walls, checking out the Doctor's room. He reached out to a long rod-like thing with a green tip.

"Don't. Touch." The Doctor said menacingly. Oliver sighed in boredom.

"Doctor, what are these black stuff on the walls?" Oliver asked as he picked up a chalk.

"It's a black board. It's something I do when I want to think." He said, generally waving his hand in his direction.

"Cool! Can I have a go?" Oliver excitedly asked.

The Doctor frustratingly placed the prototype on the table with a bang.

"Whatever I can do to silence you." He said as he erased one side of the wall. He handed him a chalk.

"Draw, write, do whatever you want. Just don't bother me." He said. Then, he pointed at Oliver threateningly. "Do not break the chalk. If you break it, I'll be very cross."

"Okay." He said. He started scribbling on the board. The peace was restored and the Doctor could work on his prototype again. With the prototype he was working on, no one would be harmed by the rebel soldiers. Just because he was working with the soldiers, didn't mean he agreed with their morals. He needed an alternative for their weaponry. If this prototype worked, the soldiers won't be hurting or killing the opposition, only making them fall asleep for a full 7 hours.

"Look Doctor. It's Mummy, you and me!" Oliver said.

The Doctor sighed and turned around. He froze.

There was a childish drawing on the blackboard, of the twin suns, some trees, a house and three stick figures, two tall and one short. One had short, curly hair, one had long hair, and a small stick figure had short, spiky hair. On the corner, the Doctor spotted a pattern of circles. It was Gallifreyan.

"Did you draw that?" He said, as he pointed at them.

Oliver timidly nodded. "It's a pretty pattern I found on the round things outside."

"What round things? Can you show me? Please?" The Doctor said. He had to know. On the blackboard, even with childish writings, the pattern of circles said 'Clara'.

The Doctor ran with Oliver. They arrived at the teleporter pads. The Doctor saw the Gallifreyan etched onto the surface of the flat, round teleporters. 'I am Doctor Idiot!' he thought to himself. All the looking he did, he realised he was looking at the wrong places. He had the answer in front of him all along.

"See? Pretty patterns." Oliver said as he smiled. The Doctor smiled with him. This was turning into the happiest day of his life.

"Clara is alive." The Doctor read out the Gallifreyan on the teleporter pads.

"There's more. Do you want to see them?" Oliver asked, looking at the Doctor with his big round eyes.

"Yes, yes. Where's the next one?" Oliver led him to another corner of the underground HQ, where a small, unused teleporter pad was covered with dust. Oliver blew the dust away.

"The ring." He read the Gallifreyan etched on it.

"What ring? Traveller's ring? My ring?" He thought out loud. He placed his hands in his pocket and froze.

He slowly took out the little, red jewellery box. They must be referring to Clara's ring.

With trembling hands, he opened it nervously.

Under the ring cushion, there was a note, hand-written in a rush.

"Run you clever boy and remember." He dropped the ring box in shock. The ring popped out but Oliver picked it up to place it in the box.

"Argh!" He screamed as he dropped the ring. The ring fell on the floor with a clatter. Oliver grabbed onto his head in pain.

"Oliver!" The Doctor checked over him and then scanned the ring.

"You're looking for the nice lady. Clara. I know how to find her." Oliver said and he ran into the HQ. The Doctor was startled at the sudden change of his character. Oliver brought a map up a screen.

"The ring… it sent you a psychic message?" The Doctor observed him placing points on the map.

"Yeah, she told me where to find her. It's all in my head now." Oliver said, pointing to his head. Then, he pointed to the map. "There!"

"These are the location of the teleports." He drew a line connecting each of the points together. "You have to activate them in this order to get to where she is right now." He said.

"Come on! Let's go! I'll lead you the way!" Oliver excitedly said.

The Doctor scanned the pathways on the map. Then he slowly placed his hand on Oliver's shoulder. "Oliver, you're not going with me."

"Why? You need me to find her. I want to go on an adventure, like you always do with mummy." Oliver said, hurt.

"Well, not today." He placed his cold fingers on Oliver's head. The Doctor closed his eyes.

"No! No…." Oliver fell asleep.

"Your mother will never let me risk another life and I don't want to risk another life. I'm tired of people losing their life over pointless wars." He said. As he closed his eyes, he saw the psychic message he extracted from Oliver's mind. It instructed him how to activate the teleports and in what order. He put Oliver into bed, wrote Mary a note, and activated the dusty teleport.

As he zoomed around the teleport as instructed in the message, he found a series of Gallifreyan letters etched on them. He decided to write them down.

"R-U-N-Y-O-U-C-L-E-V-E-R-B-O-Y-A-N-D-R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R." He stopped on the last teleport. "Run you clever boy and remember." He gasped. This was the last one. He activated it to find himself in front of a wooden lodge. He quietly entered the lodge and wandered around, until he spotted the murmur of two voices.

His hearts skipped a beat. He was actually hearing her voice, Clara's voice. He saw a laboratory wide open. A certain fear flashed across his eyes. What were they doing to her?

_ "I…I'm not sure if I can trust you right now." Clara stammered. _

Her voice… she sounded so hurt.

_"Clara, I can explain all this." A woman replied._

"Good. And to me too." The Doctor said, anger brewing inside of him.

Both Clara and Joanne gasped. Joanne instantly had her gun aimed at him.

"Please. I'm not here to kill you. I'm only here for her." He ignored the gun and pointed at Clara as he stepped into the light. "Long time no see."

Clara's eyes widened.

"Doctor."

"No, you're not taking her away from me!" Joanne screamed. She fired a bullet, and the Doctor fell to the ground."

"NO! What are you doing?!" Clara jumped up and temporarily paralysed Joanne in her rage. She went to the Doctor, who was lifelessly laying on the floor.

"…Doctor?" She gingerly picked the body up. Clara was startled when he gasped for air.

"…Oh, that hit me harder than I thought." He groaned and took the ring off of him. Clara's face brightened. It was the force field ring. He sat up, rubbing his chest. He was greeted with a hug from Clara.

"Doctor, I missed you so, so much." She started crying happy tears.

"I missed you too." He said, hugging her back. He didn't care if he didn't like hugs. He just was so glad to have her back. It had been 11 months since he had seen her face to face. 11 months since they arrived at Preevos.

A thought went past his head. Clara was supposed to be dead. There was no chance of her surviving the contamination. He didn't care though, because she was here now, alive, and nothing was going to take them away from each other.

Suddenly, Clara clutched onto her side in pain. "Oh no." Clara whispered. She gasped for breath. Her voice was filled with dread. "Not again… not now…. Please."

"What? What's wrong?" The Doctor asked in confusion. He took the sonic screwdriver out and scanned her from top to bottom. "What the hell is wrong with my screwdriver?!" He muttered in annoyance. According to the results, Clara was dead. She had been for almost five months.

"There's… nothing… nothing wrong with your scans…" Joanne whispered, still laying on the floor with the paralysed body.

The Doctor ignored her. He would deal with her later.

"Clara? Can you hear me?" The Doctor felt her pulse. There was none. 'But she is still breathing?' He felt for her breath. '…barely. But she's alive.' He activated his sonic screwdriver and scanned her again. It still showed no life signs.

The Doctor looked at her in shock as blood dripped out of her mouth as she coughed violently. Clara grabbed on to his hand weakly. 'Joanne… she knows how to… help." She gasped for air. The Doctor turned around to see Joanne, staring the ceiling helplessly in the paralysed body. The Doctor decided that now was not the time to discuss Clara's fighting skills. The paralysis move was similar to the Venusian Aikido moves he had learnt in his third regeneration. He dug deep in his memories to find the move to reverse the paralysis. When he found the moves, he reversed the effect, and quickly pinned her down on the ground.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO CLARA?" He screamed. The Oncoming storm side of him was revealing itself.

"Let me save Clara first and then I'll explain." Joanne calmly answered. The Doctor breathed out and slowly released her from his grasp.

Joanne ran to a fridge, taking out a blue vial. She placed it in an empty syringe and injected it into Clara's veins.

Clara's violent coughing ceased, and her eyes closed. The Doctor checked her breathing and her pulse. It was back to normal.

Joanne dropped the syringe and sighed in relief. The Doctor charged at her and pinned her on the wall, almost strangling her.

"You are going to tell me right now what you've done to her." He growled.

"I… found her on the snow one day, covered in her own blood. She'd been shot with a toxic bullet. I tried to save her from the injury, but she was far too gone. Then I spotted the watch and realised that she was the Traveller."

"No, no. Wait. She's not the Traveller, I am. I was given a book." The Doctor said, confused.

"Perhaps you were misinformed. Clara is definitely the Traveller and the only one in existence."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows in confusion. 'What?' He questioned himself. He let go of her throat.

Joanne fell on the ground gasping for air. She staggered up and showed him the computer screen with photographs and her scans of the past.

"…the cold had preserved her body, so I brought her back to life by rewriting her biology. The first few months were fine, but even with her powers through the items, she couldn't maintain the newly written cells. She kept having seizures. Except they weren't seizures. It was just her unnatural cells trying to revert back to her original, dead cells. She keeps coughing up blood because her inside is still punctured from the bullet wound. She's not dying, Doctor. She's already dead. I've been keeping her alive because without her, we cannot stop the prophecy. And this is why she's the Traveller. We both know that these items are toxic for any living beings. Even you, Doctor. But Clara's not affected by them. At least… not now. She's the only one who can use it to bring down the devil."

"She's dead?" He glanced at Clara, who was now peacefully sleeping on the floor. He backed away in shock. "No, I don't believe you." The Doctor shook his head. He denied believing what Joanne told him.

"There is one way you can bring her back." Joanne said. "Find the peace orb and activate it before Blackoff does."

"The peace orb?" The Doctor asked. He remembered seeing it in the celebration for the moon alignment day. He also remembered how he was forced to find it when he was captured. He hid the terrible memory deep inside his head.

"The reason why Blackoff is so interested in it is because it gives you powers of the Goddess. You will be immortal and you will be able to control life and death. If Clara can get to it first, she can bring back life to herself." Joanne said.

"We're too late. Blackoff already has it. _I _found it for him." He frowned bitterly.

Joanne smiled. "They have the _lock_, but they don't have the _key._"

"And what is the key?" He asked.

"The items and the Traveller's blood." She answered.

The Doctor was speechless. "About… how much blood?" He asked. He definitely didn't like where this was going.

"…I don't know. Enough to power the orb." Joanne answered vaguely.

The Doctor sighed. He carefully picked up Clara. "I'm taking her back to the HQ."

Joanne shook her head.

"When she wakes up, let her decide which one of us she wants to follow. After all, it's Clara's choice."

Then the wait began. The Doctor sat next to her. He couldn't believe his eyes. She was so peaceful. So relaxed sleeping on her bed. For 11 months, the wild goose chase kept them apart, drawn to the each side of the darkness. He held her lifeless hand. He squeezed it to tell her that he was here. And he wasn't leaving her behind ever again no matter what.

Then, the hand squeezed back.

"I knew that wasn't a dream." The Doctor heard Clara's frail voice.

"Hey. How are you doing?"

"Much better thanks. Much more now that you're here. Long-time no see. I missed you." She brought his hand up to her face and kissed it weakly.

"I missed you too." The Doctor smiled.

Clara sat up on the bed. There was a painfully long silence.

"I'm sorry Doctor." Clara said.

"Sorry for what? For this? This was never your fault. It was mine."

"No. For the retcon. Every night I replayed that scene over and over, trying to find a way to somehow stop it. I wanted to stay. I thought you were dead all this time and I was the only one left to sort this mess out. I finally met you, but I was selfish. I knew it was wrong. I kept trying to find a way to find another way that night could have worked out." Clara touched his forehead and the memories flooded back.

The Doctor remembered everything. The purple hood. That was her!

"Clara, I forgive you. What happened that night, you had to do what you had to." The Doctor smiled. Now, it was time for the most important question.

"Clara…"

"I hear you." Clara interfered.

"Sorry? Hear what?" The Doctor said, startled.

"Your wish. You desperately want me to go back." Clara said. Then, she pointed at her head. "Psychic-ness… I know it's rude to but you are basically channelling that thought into my mind." She giggled.

"Oh, I forgot. I'm sorry. How…?"

"Of course Doctor. I'll come with you." Clara gave him a smile. "…if, you stop being so overprotective… and we keep Charlie." Clara said, lifting Charlie to his eye level.

"You can keep him and I promise I won't be overprotective." The Doctor said.

Joanne entered the room. "So, miss Clara Oswald. Have you decided?"

Clara nodded and looked at the Doctor with a smile.

"I'm going home."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

When the Doctor returned, he realised that Mary and Captain Bennett was still not back. Oliver was peacefully asleep. So was Clara, in his arms. The walk back must have been exhausting for her. It was only a short distance but she started stumbling over thin air. They decided to take a rest and it wasn't long after she fell asleep. In the corner of his mind, he knew the horrible truth. Clara was dying and the solution Joanne had been giving her was only a temporary solution. Clara was dying nevertheless. But he pushed that away as far as possible.

The Doctor placed Clara gingerly in an empty sleeping quarter. Charlie obediently curled up in a corner, observing his actions. The Doctor paused to check for her vitals and placed a small dog bed for Charlie. "You watch over her, okay?" He ruffled his fur. Charlie gave a small bark and stared at Clara longingly.

The Doctor smiled and silently left the room. He had to see the librarian right now.

He knocked the door and sure enough, she answered.

"Hello Doc…"

"Why did you tell me I was the Traveller?" The Doctor bluntly interrupted. He glared at her.

"I never said that you were. You just made the assumption that you were one. We needed a diversion for Blackoff. Get him to chase the wrong person so that the real Traveller can continue doing her thing."

"You knew Clara was the Traveller?!" The Doctor frowned.

"The Traveller is from a different planet. From another time. The Traveller calls a planet once lost yet found again a home, and has had many lives and many faces. _She_ goes by many names. The lady in a purple hood, the healer, the saviour."

The librarian smiled.

"The Traveller was never you, Doctor. It was always Clara."


	21. Chapter 20: I'm Not Losing Anyone Else

**Well, well, well. Second update this week as promised! **

**Thank you so much to claraoswelve, bgeiner and Kendra600 for the reviews!**

**Will be updating next Friday so see you next week!**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>The Doctor sat next to Clara's bed, clutching his head. Everything was so complicated! He closed his eyes.<p>

"_The Traveller will sacrifice their body in the name of peace.  
>In the final battle against the devil the devil will burn with the Traveller where time doesn't run.<em>"  
>The Doctor recited the poem from the golden book again and again.<p>

The Doctor heard Clara stirring.

"Hey." The Doctor leaned over, placing his hand on her pale cheek. He didn't like how cold her cheeks were. No. He had to be grateful for what he currently had. Clara is alive and that's all it mattered.

"Doctor." Clara managed to give a weak chuckle. She coughed once again.

The Doctor handed her a cup of warm tea. "Drink this, you'll feel better."

"Can I ask you something?" Clara sipped on a cup of tea.

"Sure. Ask away."

"How do you manage it? Saving people, changing people's lives. How do you cope when you see the damage you cause to you and everyone around you by doing this?" She asked.

The Doctor was silent for a while. How did he cope? He had no idea as well.

"I forget things… I try to outweigh the good against the evil. Like you said back in Bristol, Clara. I look back to who I have saved and I keep going." He looked away.

She sprung up and hugged him tightly. "I really missed you. It's been 11 months. 11 months of thinking you were dead. 11 months of saving people. 11 months of standing between life and death."

The last sentence made the Doctor flinch. She didn't know the truth. He could never tell her.

"All the work you did… I saw a glimpse of it. The Doctor truly being the Doctor for Preevos. The saviour of the universe." Clara said, staring at him with wondrous, hopeful eyes.

There was a knock on the door.

"And it seems like we might finally have a chance to save the world together." The Doctor smiled. "Come in." The Doctor said.

There was a soldier solemnly standing under the door frame, half of his face singed from what looked like a battle. Charlie, who was quiet until now, started growling softly.

Both the Doctor and Clara's eyes widened in shock. Clara slowly got out of bed and leaned on the Doctor for support.

"I…. I'm… so sorry." He stammered. "They shouldn't have…." The soldier couldn't continue.

"What happened?" The Doctor gently asked, his voice filled with compassion.

"It was a trap. There was a bomb, and it exploded the second we arrived on site. I saw everyone being vaporised. Mary and Captain Bennett… they both died from the explosion. We all died." He started crying.

"Well, look on the bright side. You are here, alive. You were so brave." Clara added.

"No. I'm dead too." He stopped crying. His facial expression changed. "That's weird. I forgot about dying." His body started twitching.

The Doctor back stepped, horrified. A sudden realisation hit him. Mary and Captain Bennett were dead and the soldier presumably didn't survive as well. That was a remote control puppet. A puppet commonly used by the Daleks to fool the prey. How the hell did Blackoff acquire Dalek technology and how were they controlling it?

"Of course. They had me." The memories of him being interrogated in a dark room flooded back.

The Doctor quickly took the sonic screwdriver out raised an alarm and disabled the puppet. The Doctor looked at Clara.

"I'm sorry, I know you're still weak, but do you think you can run?" The Doctor held onto Clara's cold hands worriedly. Her face was slowly draining of colour. He needed to inject Clara with Joanne's substance but now was not the time.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. There are people here, right? We have to go and save them first!"

"I've already raised the lock down alarm. They will be safe. We need to get out of here. Now, can you walk or not?"

Clara took a step and fell down. She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. Go, you don't need to worry about me. I'll just slow you down. Save yourself before it's too late."

"I've lost two of my best friends. I'm not losing anyone else." He said, which hit him more than it should have. Mary and Captain Bennett, who had been supporting the Doctor for almost 11 months were dead. He eased the pain by looking at Clara. He had to save who was left. He scooped Clara up and started running. Charlie tagged closely behind them, knocking down weapons of soldiers who were advancing too close to them. They arrived at the small teleport. He activated it, but nothing happened.

"They took the Comms down." He sighed in defeat. There was nothing from Clara. No sound, no movement. "Clara?" The Doctor looked at her, horrified. She wasn't breathing.

The Doctor held her tightly in his arms. A drop of tear fell onto her shirt. "Clara, no. Please. Hold on. I need you." He begged. The chemical that could revive her…. He quickly reached for his pocket and realised it had slipped out. He heard Blackoff's soldiers advancing. They couldn't go back now. This was finally the end. He brought Clara's lifeless body closer to him in preparation for his death.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." His forehead touched with Clara's.

Suddenly, he saw flashes of pictures. 'hand, watch, heart.' He knew exactly what to do. He unchained the pocket watch and gingerly placed it in her palm. Then, he placed the hand on Clara's chest.

Suddenly, a golden glow surrounded them, and they were inside Joanne's house again. The Doctor didn't care where he was right now. He ran straight to the lab, acquired a syringe of chemical and injected it into Clara's bloodstreams. Clara breathed out, as if she had just surfaced from underwater.

Joanne came in the room, startled.

"…welcome… back….?"

Inside Joanne's mind, she smirked. She knew they were going to come back. She was slightly worried when Clara had agreed to go back to the HQ, but sighed in relief for how the events had turned out. For once she could thank Blackoff for setting her plans back on track. Thanks to him, she now had one more person she could manipulate. The Doctor.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Henry was in his quarters when he heard the alarm. As soon as he opened the door to leave, a soldier sprang up to him and immediately started strangling him. What was that thing bulging out on the side of his ear? He reached for the piece and pulled it out. The soldier fell lifelessly on the ground. The lights on the earplug turned off.

Before he left the room, a brilliant idea flashed through his mind.

"Sorry mate, I need your clothes." He said to the now-unconscious guy. Luckily, the soldier's uniform fit perfectly on Henry. He made sure that the earplug was disabled and placed it on his ear.

He exited the room to find the soldiers inspecting every room. He had to get Miere out of there.

Henry started walking towards her quarters naturally.

"We found subject 012, sir." A soldier said from afar. Henry's rage and sadness ignited when he saw Miere being dragged to the main teleport. He couldn't be angry though. He decided that it would be the best not to blow his cover and to follow them to whatever destination they were taking her.

oOoOoOoOoOoO

**Wooden lodge – kitchen**

The Doctor placed Clara on her bed and walked down to the kitchen. He paced around thinking about her. He was concerned as she was so much weaker than when he first saw her in person. He knew that her body was growing tired of the new cells that kept invading her body. The doses he had to give her was slowly increasing, and the duration it lasted was becoming shorter.

"So, good news and bad news." Joanne said as she handed him a cup of tea. "The good news is that I found the location of the peace orb. The bad news is… it's heavily guarded and we have no army to break into it."

He didn't care about that. "How is Clara doing?"

"I'm doing fine." Clara interrupted as she slowly walked down the stairs. "Don't be over-protective, you promised."

"Clara!" His eyes sparked of happiness. She was okay!

The Doctor scanned over her once again, and was met with a deathly glare. "Sorry, I was just worried, that's all." Clara seemed fine. Which he didn't understand. Few hours ago, the Doctor was holding her limp, lifeless body. But now, she seemed just… normal. Healthy and normal, just like any other living person.

"… So, you found the peace orb?" Clara continued. "Heavily guarded? No problem. I'm sure that I can get past it. Blackoff's guarding system is a joke." She chuckled.

"Clara! You can't go! You were de…" The Doctor stopped. 'She doesn't know' he reminded himself. "… you were sick a few hours ago. Extremely ill. Your body probably hasn't recovered yet."

"I'm fine now. Besides, Joanne told me about the peace orb."

The Doctor froze. He glared at Joanne. "What about?"

"The seizures I have… it can be fixed if we find the peace orb. Apparently it will fix everything that has been happening to me. nightmares… headaches… Memory blanks…."

"….You never… told me about any of that." He was horrified. To think that Clara was going through so much pain pained him as well.

"Oh…" She looked away. "Please don't worry about me. You always make bad decisions when you get emotional."

"Does it hurt?" He felt Clara's head. It was cold. So very cold, like touching a dead body. Clara batted his hand away from her head.

"I'M FINE. Just…. Doctor, please. I really am. It's nothing. I shouldn't have said anything. Now, Joanne. Where is the peace orb being kept?"

oOoOooOooOoOOOoOoOoOo

**Blackoff's HQ**

"Five BLOODY bags!" Blackoff fumed. "What do you mean they just disappeared?" He banged on the table. "No, no, no! Blood cells don't just DIE. Not when you keep them in bags AND in the right environment!" He choked the scientist. "I know what you did. You are with the team of rebels. How dare you."

"I…. swear… it wasn't me… please don't kill me." The man begged.

"Get on your knees and beg for my mercy." He threw him on the ground.

"I'm sorry sir. I really am." He kneeled on the floor and looked up desperately. "Please. I have a son and a wife. Please have mercy."

Blackoff kicked his face with his steel-capped boot. He kicked him over and over until his face was unrecognisable.

Henry watched helplessly. Still undercover, he could not intervene without being killed on spot.

When Blackoff was done, he spat on the body.

"If I find ANYONE working alongside Clara Oswald and her filthy human army, I'll make sure you will never see the daylight again. Guard, take this filthy body away from here."

"Yes sir." Henry said with gritted teeth.

He buried his body in a nearby mountain, and placed rocks around it to signify the body underneath.

"I'm sorry." He said with tears.

Henry clenched his fist and promised to take down Blackoff, no matter what it takes.


	22. Chapter 21: Their Final Mission

**Sorry for the very late update :/ I unfortunately won't be able to update more this weekend, I have quite a lot of work i need to finish by the end of this weekend :(. (help me please T.T) But here's at least one chapter for this week! (If I have time, I might rewrite the chapter. If I do, I'll let you guys know ASAP.) **

**Thank you to: Guest Who, ProEllusionist, Last1stnding, bgeiner, claraoswelve and AngryTimeLadyClara! YOU GUYS ROCK!**

**Thank you equally to all you followers and favourites out there :D**

**Enjoy and see you next week! :)  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"Ear pieces?!"<p>

"Yes, Doctor, so that we can all communicate with each other." Joanne said, trying to calm the Doctor down.

"Doctor, they're safe. I assure you it's not the ones worn by Blackoff's soldiers." Clara said, gently placing the ear pieces on his palm.

"Well, what if it is? I don't want something foreign crammed in my ear! I would like to know who I'm speaking to when I hear a voice!" The Doctor whined.

"Doctor, you're just being ridiculous. I promise it's safe. Cross my heart." Clara said, placing a hand on her chest.

"…Fine. Only because you said so." He grudgingly placed them in his ear.

"Now. The peace orb is located deep underneath Blackoff's biggest medical facility."

"Well, of course it is. Where else would it be?" The Doctor sarcastically remarked. Clara glared at him and Joanne sighed.

"Can you… just shut up for a minute? Seriously, Doctor, why are you throwing tantrums like a five year old?" Clara paused. "Oh, I know." She smirked. "You're being grumpy because you're not in charge, aren't you."

"No I'm not!" He yelled.

"Sure you aren't." Clara chuckled. "Sorry about him. Please continue."

"…I need you, Doctor, to penetrate the northern side of the facility while you, Clara, penetrate the south. To make things harder, there will be a swamp near there, but I'm pretty sure you can manage. The peace orb is on the lowest floor of the facility, so you, Clara, will go get it. While Clara is getting it, you have to sneak into the communications tower and block any alarms that Clara may or may not trip. Now, once you acquire the peace orb, place it in this box and bring it straight back here using the teleporter I've given you. Do NOT look directly into it and do NOT touch it. The peace orb emits dangerous form of radiation, which will most definitely hurt you badly if you don't handle it correctly."

"Why is the peace orb so dangerous? What is it made out of?" The Doctor asked.

"Legend says that it's the raw powers of the Goddess compressed into a single orb. I don't know what exactly it is, but I do know that it is something very powerful. Now, I'll be in touch with both of you through the earpiece. Good luck."

Joanne approached Clara and whispered into her ear. "Remember to take the medicine if you start feeling sick."

Clara nodded. "Of course." She smiled.

The Doctor and Clara stood beside each other on the teleportation pad.

Clara gave Charlie a final ruffle and stood beside the Doctor.

"See you on the other side." The Doctor waved. Clara smiled back.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Clara trudged along the wet and freezing swamp floors of the south Preeonian forest. It felt like she was back to her normal routine. Her normal routine with Joanne. Except one thing.

"I hate swamps. The rats… they're the size of dogs. Bigger dogs than Charlie!" The Doctor's voice travelled through her ear piece. She chuckled. "Clara, when all this is over, remind me to take you to the waters of Harlevon-9. They have beautiful, dry jungles, unlike the disgusting, icy ones we're walking on."

"Oh shut up, Doctor." Clara said, teasingly.

Clara continued walking towards the chalk-white building in the midst of the jungle. Unlike the surrounding waist-deep water, the foundation of the building was made of hard concrete, complete with an electric fence surrounding the huge facility.

"I have visual on the building." Clara said, now shivering from the cold.

"Me too." The Doctor said.

"How did they even manage to build something that big on a boggy swamp like this?!" Clara muttered.

"Lots of human labour." The Doctor's sadness carried through the speakers. Clara paused. Every building Blackoff had built, was built from the blood and sweat of thousands of innocent human beings. The human beings who had to suffer from that terrible monster. Clara's rage boiled inside her.

"There will be a 3 minute power shortage. It will turn out the lights and turn the electric fences off. Make every second count." Joanne said through their communicators.

Shortly after, as Joanne said, there was a power shortage. As planned, the Doctor and Clara sneaked inside the building, disguising themselves as the scientists. The lights turned back on again.

Suddenly, Clara stopped and leaned on the wall. "Doctor… do you feel it? I feel… I feel…"

"…Dizzy, I know. It's the psychic force field. Just stay calm." His voice sounded distant, as if he was feeling the pain as well.

"It hurts." Clara said, still grabbing onto her forehead.

"I know, I know. Keep your mind blank. And keep going. I'm nearly at the communications tower. Take the lift straight to the lowest basement." Clara did as she was told, following the white maze-like corridors to a lift. Clara breathed deeper to try easing the headache.

Before the lift doors closed, a soldier placed his hand between the doors and entered the lift. Clara's heart started beating wildly.

The soldier stood in front of Clara with his back towards her. Clara watched the soldier nervously. 'Act natural.' She reminded herself, as she stared at the panel with the floor numbers.

"Don't act alarmed, don't react to my voice. Everything you do inside the facility is recorded through video but not audio. Cough once if the Doctor is here with you. Cough twice if he's not."

Clara coughed once. His voice… seemed familiar.

"Thank you. Blackoff is expecting you on the last level, so don't go there. Go to the third and the fourth basement and rescue the prisoners there first. Use the stairs at the end of the fourth floor's basement to the last floor and tell the Doctor to disable the alarms before entering the storage room. Blackoff doesn't know that you're here yet, so don't do something stupid." The soldier said.

Clara carefully walked to the buttons, and pressed B3 and cancelled B5. Through the tiny glance, Clara realised it was Henry in the soldier's uniform. Clara gasped on the inside.

The lift stopped a floor before Clara's and Henry exited the lift.

When the lift arrived at her floor, Clara quietly walked through the endless corridor. However, this floor was slightly different to the others. Thousands of children laid in small glass pods. It was the same sight she had seen back in the factory, except much bigger in scale.

"Now, newbies, follow me to the stage one laboratory." Clara jumped at the man's voice. There was a group of people following a man through a corridor. Clara sneaked into the group, following them towards the laboratory.

"Right, so, this place is where our stage one clones are treated. President Blackoff wanted to stop using weapons as it costs too much to produce and manage. What we've come up… well, with a help from a 'doctor' is truly ingenious. We breed clones that are basically indestructible, and give them a strain of infectious Psyon disease. We place them all around the world for the stupid rebels to take them in, and wait for them to be infected and sickly. This way, we can take care of eradicating the human filth much faster than our normal extermination camps. Besides, the pesky rebels and this figure called the 'healer' keep ruining everything anyway."

Clara frowned with disgust. How could anyone do this to people? Actual, living people?

"Excuse me, what was the doctor's name?" A young man with a notepad asked the tour leader.

"We do not know. But we do know that he was the last of his kind. A species called the Time Lords."

Clara's eyes widened. 'The Doctor… _my_ Doctor did this?!' she thought, shocked. Everyone around her gasped as well.

"Ah, so you've all heard of him? Well, seeing him was underwhelming to say the least. We captured him and tried to control him for a bit. Try to get some information about eradicating humans off Preevos. We tried torturing him, threatening him, drugging him… Nothing worked. After a while, we had to forcefully extract his thoughts. We finally managed to get some information about this parasite called Psyons… which won't kill humans, but leave them brain dead. That was good enough for us. The parasites were extinct, but we managed to recreate it again. These clones have the DNA of a Timelord. Timelord plus, if you'd like. If they are killed in battle, we've designed to regenerate their bodies so that they can get back up and fight for us again." He chuckled. "Speaking of the Psyon disease, I will demonstrate the effects on humans."

He brought the group to a monitoring room. On the other side of the glass, she saw a prisoner on a table. A scientist wearing a biohazard suit walked in and injected him on his neck with a blue liquid.

"Of course, this happens through the course of few months. If they died instantly, there will be no point of sending them undercover- no one will be infected before they die. This strain is sped up to show the effect in a short period of time."

Clara looked at the sight, horrified. At first, the sickly prisoner looked as if he was gaining health. Then, he clutched onto his head, screaming. He rocked back and forth in a corner, until his head started swelling up. His skulls exploded and what seemed like caterpillars oozed out from the now-exposed brain. There was a murmur and a scribbling sound.

"The beauty of this parasite is that it makes the host so healthy before it attacks. Harder for rebels to detect the disease. Once they do, they'll be too late." He laughed.

"What if the disease spreads inside this base?" Another newbie asked.

"Good question. If worst comes to worst in our base, there is a kill switch that terminates the project. The Psyon parasites can't survive in a human brain unless they create a nest inside the subject's brain. Once the nest is destroyed, no matter how far the parasite is from the source, it will die no matter what. The kill switch will do literally what it says it will do. Kill every single subject by overdosing them with a high dose of specially formulated poison."

Clara's hands trembled in anger. However, she supressed her feelings, saving it for later. Blackoff and his army will pay, and they will be sorry.

"Anyway, this floor contains children ranging from newborns to toddlers. They are exposed to the virus so that they become immune to it. There are different stages, from children all the way to young adults. Sometimes, we encounter rejects, who react abnormally to this strain of parasites. These rejects are thrown in the incinerators with rest of the useless human labourers." He said, leading them through the corridors.

The man led them through a doorway. As soon as the door opened, she heard screaming. Screams of pain, anger and desperation. She covered her ears in pain. The headache was becoming worse. Everything in there was grey. The stone floors and walls, with bed/table things made of metal. There were series of rooms, with one way windows which enabled them to monitor the 'subjects'.

"We train the disobedient specimens in here. They are punished for their wrongs and brainwashed. The staff here can reform even the toughest subject in less than a week."

As Clara went past the rooms, she saw horrible things. People being severely beaten, in horrible pain and with grievous injuries. Tears fell, which she quickly wiped away. This was too much for her. And the horrifying smell. The tinny stench of blood accompanied by the smell of death. Clara ignored the momentary golden light pulsing from her hands.

"Sir, subject 012 is not responding to its reconditioning." Clara heard from a scientist as she went past with the group.

"Give her another try and if it doesn't work, throw her in the incinerators."

oOooOooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

**Inside Miere's head**

Miere was on a green grass field, overlooking the aurora and the shooting stars sprawled across the deep purple sky.

"Doctor."

"Yes, Miere?"

"When I wake up… IF… I wake up, and if I am still alive, will I remember all this?"

"Traces, maybe. But not likely." He said.

"Can you show me the real stars when I wake up?"

"Miere." He smiled. "These are all real. These images are from my memory bank. I exist in your dreams because I left a trace of myself in your psychic mind." He gently tapped her nose. "I was also nice enough to leave you with this old face. My older self is ever so grumpy." He chuckled. "Although, I admit, magician suit is quite cool. Like my bowtie." He wiggled his bowtie. Miere laughed with him. "But, I'm sure if you asked my real self nicely, he would be able to do something about it." He answered. "Come on, let's go back to the TARDIS. Where to next?" He said as he opened the door. Halfway into the TARDIS, he froze. He turned around in panic.

"Miere, something is wrong. Someone is reaching into your mind. Think of something else, quickly. Stop them from waking you up. Just run further into your mind. Don't look back."

Suddenly, the Doctor faded away. Miere started panicking. The whole stargazing under a grass field disappeared.

Miere was ripped from her sleep. She sat up panting. When she recognised the surroundings, her heart almost stopped. She was in a cell. The grey cell of her childhood.

"Wakey, wakey." It was her creator. He grinned with his rotten brown teeth. "Time to wake up. You were never the one to sleep in." He struck her with his fist.

"Subject 012. You've been so naughty. You defied all the rules set for your safety. You of all kids know what happens to naughty children." A man came in with an electric whip.

"I'm sorry master. I'm sorry! Please don't hit me. I'll do anything." She said in utter fright. The whip lashed struck her, over and over. She cried.

There was no way out of the cell now. Not ever.


	23. Chapter 22: I'm a Murderer

**Hey hey, back with another chapter! **

**Special thanks to: claraoswelve, Guest Who, bgeiner and ProEllusionist! Thank you so much guys :D**

**Oh yeah, by the way, I've started writing a second fic - it's called 'Just Let Me Go'... so check it out if you haven't done so!**

**Thank you everyone and enjoy :D :D**

* * *

><p>Clara's headache was becoming worse. She felt like she was burning up and was about to pass out. While walking with the group, a hand pulled her into one of the dark rooms.<p>

Clara stumbled over, and landed on someone.

"Whoa, whoa. Clara, sorry for surprising you like this." It was Henry. Relief spread across her face. He helped her up and hugged her tightly.

"I wasn't sure you survived. I heard that you… you died on the mountain. But I always knew you'd survived. I am so glad to see you in the flesh again." Henry froze halfway during their hug. "You're cold. Freezing cold."

Before Clara could avoid Henry's worrying hands, Henry quickly held onto her wrist and took her pulse. "Clara, I'm… I'm not even sure how you're alive right now." He backed away.

"I'm fine. Please stop worrying." She said as she looked at Henry's eyes. "Hang on, what are you doing here in a soldier's uniform?" Clara asked, frowning.

"Oh, no, no. This is not what it looks like." Henry said pointing to the military uniform. "I was in the HQ… and then all of a sudden the lockdown alarm rang. Everyone who were in the HQ evacuated to the safe zone, but I couldn't leave Miere. It turns out that somehow, Blackoff's soldiers managed to invade the HQ. They started taking whoever they could find to this place... including Miere. I managed to disguise as one of the soldiers and basically became an undercover spy. Being one is more nerve wrecking and less cooler than I initially thought."

Clara chuckled. She really missed Henry and his awkwardness. She hugged him again. "Oh, I've missed you so much. By the way, speaking of Miere, have you found her yet?" Clara asked.

Henry shook his head in shame. "Not yet. But I did find out that she's subject number 012.""

"Wait, 012? Oh no." Clara looked at Henry, horrified. "On the way here, I heard the scientists saying they will incinerate subject 012. We have to find her. NOW."

"We don't know where she is yet!" Henry stopped Clara.

"Well, you're lucky I know someone who does." Clara smirked. She turned on her earpiece. "Clara to the Doctor, Clara to the Doctor."

Henry hit his head in realisation. "Of course!" He whispered.

"Ah, have you met up with Henryboy yet? I met him on the way to the towers." Clara heard the Doctor's voice through the earpods.

"Yes, I'm with him right now. I need you to do something for us."

"That's what I'm here for."

"Can you find the location of subject 012?"

After a pause, the Doctor responded. "Subject 012… is close by. 12's room is at the end of the corridor, left hand side. Be careful though, I'm reading 3 lifeforms other than the subject…"

"Let's go." Henry said urgently.

They exited the room cautiously, and sprinted to Miere's room. Through the one way window, they saw a horrifying sight. The three soldiers were striking her over and over with batons, while Miere laid on the floor crying and begging. They poured some sort of liquid onto her battered body and she screamed as it started burning her.

Clara looked at Henry's face in sadness. Henry's hands were clenched into fists and tears were streaming out of his eyes. Clara kicked the door down and swiftly and skilfully took both three of them down.

Henry slowly came in seeing the three men on the floor, groaning. He pulled a gun from his holster and pointed at one of them. Clara knew she should stop him, but seeing Miere's helpless body and all the rage built inside her from the previous sights stopped her from stopping Henry.

The paralysed man just looked at Henry, as if he was accepting his fate.

Henry's hands holding the gun trembled, and he dropped it on the floor.

"I never would." He said, almost as a whisper. "I'm a doctor, not a soldier."

'I would.' Clara's inner voice softly suggested. She oppressed the terrifying thought.

Henry turned around to Miere, whose face was so swollen from bruises and cuts from the injuries. Henry gently picked up her shivering, blood covered body. "Hey Miere. You're safe now. I promise."

"H..h. …ry?" Her blood covered hands felt for his face. Clara crouched down and healed some of Miere's wounds with the healing gauntlet. However, even with it, Clara couldn't heal all of her injuries.

"She has some severe damages to her inner organs. The injuries are too big for me to heal. You need to get to somewhere safe with proper medical equipment. Oh wait…" Clara realised that she had the teleporter Joanne had given her to use after she retrieved the peace orb. She handed it to Henry.

"Henry, use this teleporter. It will take you to my friend's house. She'll look after you there."

Henry nodded. "Thank you, Clara. Good luck with your mission." He gave a slight sad smile. He then held Miere in his arms and activated the teleporter. With a purple light, they disappeared into nothing.

Clara momentarily gazed at the spot where Henry once stood, worrying about Henry and Miere.

"Clara, are you still in subject 012's room?" The Doctor's panicked voice interrupted Clara's thoughts.

"…Yes? Why?" Clara asked.

"Because there's about twenty to thirty soldiers headed your way. Get out of there, now!" He yelled.

As soon as she stepped out of the room, she heard gun fires aimed at her. She staggered forward clutching onto her head. Her headache was back, and it was worse than before. She halted to a stop, when she saw another twenty soldiers on the other side. She was surrounded.

"Doctor, I'm sorry. I don't think I'm going to make this. I just wanted to tell you, I'm sorry for all the things I've done wrong… and you were truly the best friend I had. Thank you for all the great memories. I'll never have a chance to say this. I… love you." Clara said in a rush and she squeezed her eyes shut. Her head felt like it was exploding as the gunshot rang through her head.

oOooOoOoOoOoOoO

**Communication tower**

_"Doctor, I'm sorry. I don't think I'm going to make this. I just wanted to tell you, I'm sorry for all the things I've done wrong… and you were truly the best friend I had. Thank you for all the great memories. I'll never have a chance to say this. I… love you."_

There was a hideous bang.

"CLARA!" There was nothing but static.

He ran. He went past the lift and went straight to the staircase. He had to get to her. His Clara. His impossible girl.

B3. That was the level where she was last time he checked. He kicked the door down and stopped momentarily in horror. So many of the soldiers laid on the floor, dead. He looked around, carefully stepping over the corpses that laid endlessly through the corridor. He walked through the corpses, horrified and confused. 'Surely this wasn't Clara?' He thought. On the walls, there were pods filled with toddlers to small children. He scanned the floor with his sonic to find over 50,000 life forms, mostly made up of children and teenagers. The Doctor placed one of his hand on his head. The headaches, Clara said she had them too. They were worse down here. He knew it was the earplugs. With his trembling hands, he took both of them off.

"I knew you were trying to control me, Joanne. Well, you didn't realise that it takes more than a little remote controller to take over a Time Lord." He stepped on them and ground them against the floor, as a sort of a revenge. He knew that Clara was in trouble.

Looking on the ground, the Doctor spotted footprints stamped on the white floor with blood. He followed it to a dark room. He saw a petite figure. A figure with a hand hovering over a button.

"Clara." He knew exactly what that button would do. It was the kill switch. The switch that would kill all the life forms in this level and the other innocent human beings on other levels.

"I'm not Clara." Clara said. "You were so busy about keeping Clara alive that you didn't even bother to check what was keeping her alive. While you worried about Clara, I've been rewriting her biology so I could control her. Finally, that day has come."

"Don't press that button." He growled.

"No. If I don't press the button, everyone in Preevos will die. This technology was created from you so I'm using your companion to disable it. Isn't that what she does, Doctor? Your impossible girl. She undoes all the damage that you create? Clean up and make excuses after you?"

"I can fix this. Please, there's over 50,000 children down here. Children who have never seen real light or felt real emotions. If you press that button, they will all die."

"They were never alive to start with!" She screamed. "They are clones! They never experienced what humans should. They don't have a soul. If they are allowed to live, they will kill real human beings."

"Please, I'm begging you. They are human, just like us. They are living beings. I'll take care of them. Just… give them a chance."

"No. You've made matters in Preevos worse than it was. You are not welcome here, stranger." Controlled-Clara pressed the button.

The Doctor's hearts shattered. All the children, every prisoner of this facility was now 'terminated'. Clara collapsed on the ground. The Doctor sat her up. He could clearly see that she was trying to fight back and gather control.

"Clara, is that you?"

Clara weakly nodded. Her tears fell sideways. "I killed them. All of them. The soldiers…. They shot me, and a golden light exploded out of me and killed them instead. Oh, and the children..." She looked at her hands. "The blood of the dead… they are all on my hands." She sobbed. "I'm a murderer."

"It wasn't you Clara. Don't ever think it was. It was never your fault."

They were overlooking the pods now. All the children inside them laid on the bottom of their pods, dead.

"I… I did this." She whispered.

The Doctor crouched down. "Clara, listen to me. This was never you. Joanne manipulated you. This was Joanne."

Clara ignored him and walked to a pod. She pressed a button and the door hissed open. A small teddy bear slipped out of the little boy's dead hands.

The Doctor stood there speechless. A small, silent tear fell across his face. It was Oliver. The little boy who once had a mother and a father. The boy whose life was ripped apart because of a terrible, pointless war. The boy whom he promised to protect. He now laid inside a pod, dead. His glossy eyes stared blankly into Clara and the Doctor.

"Well, well, well." A sharp clacking of the boots sounded through the silent corridor. "How goes the day?" The man stepped over a dead soldier's body. "It seems like I missed the party." He smirked.

"Blackoff." The Doctor growled.


End file.
